Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice 178639491X, 9781786394910

Table of contents :
Cover
Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice
Copyright
Contents
Testimonials
About the Author
Preface
References
Acknowledgements
1 Step 1: Why?
References
2 Step 2: Your First Time?
The main functions required in every business
Human resources (HR)
Digital HR
Operations
Information technology (IT)
Marketing
Finance
Which business structure?
Choose your year end
Raising finance
Levels of responsibility
Foundations of a successful business
Vision
Mission
Values
Culture
Further Reading
3 Step 3: Vision, Mission, Values and Culture
What do I mean by vision?
How to write your vision
What do I mean by mission?
How to write your mission statement
How are your vision and mission statement relevant when hiring?
Take action …
Values and culture
What do I mean by values?
How to elicit your values
What do I mean by culture?
How do you create the ideal culture?
1. Employ the right people first time round
2. Have a consistent communication strategy
3. Weed out the ‘victims’
4. Work hard, play hard
5. Be clear about your ambitions
6. Celebrate differences
7. Create the space
8. Take the long view
How is culture relevant when hiring?
Be clear about what you need
Be clear about what you need.
References
4 Step 4: How to Define What and Who You Need
Sample recruitment and selection policy
Policy
Equal opportunities
The recruitment process
Define the job
Prepare a person specification
Collate information
Consider effective ways of advertising the vacancy
Design the advert
The selection process
Exit interviews
Job description
Why have job descriptions?
Roles and responsibilities
Who you need
The person specification
Be clear about who you are looking for
References
5 Step 5: Recruitment and Induction
About your company
What are you offering?
How do you want applicants to apply?
Interview and selection
Screening applications
Selecting applicants to interview
Preparing for interviews
Telephone interviews
Face-to-face interviews
Video interviews
Panel interviews
Work trials
Standardize your interview questions
Making the right decision
Consider your evidence
References
How to put together a compelling offer
Dealing with rejection
The best start
Induction
Mentor
Performance management
Preparation for induction
What do they need to know?
Who do you involve?
Scheduling time for induction
Week 1
Week 4
Take action …
References
6 Step 6: Performance Management and Employee Engagement
Day 1 plan for development
One-on-one reviews
Six-month appraisal
Why are appraisal meetings important?
Preparing for appraisal meetings
During the meeting
After the meeting
Engagement surveys
Take action …
Performance improvement plan (PIP)
Employee engagement
References
7 Step 7: Employee Health and Wellbeing
Mental health challenges faced by vets
Absence management
Might your workplace contribute to poor mental health?
Employee’s return to work
Talking about mental health
Signs of poor mental health
Regular catch ups
External support
Making health and wellbeing central
References
8 Step 8: How to Build a Loyal Client Database and Marketing Your Practice
Providing a better client experience
How are you gaining new clients?
What about networking?
Marketing tips
Digital marketing
Brand consistency
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Client events
Good promotion
Have fun and make sure your team does too
Assessing success
Sharing with your team
9 Step 9: Financial Management
Managing finance in veterinary practice
Do you regularly review your profit and loss (P&L)?
Reference
10  Step10: Three Key Strategies to Increase Your Revenue by 25%
Increase the number of new clients
Get your clients to come back more often
Increase the amount of money clients spend with you
Reference
Appendix 1 Organization Plan
Appendix 2 Values Worksheet
Appendix 3 Job Description Template
Appendix 4 Person Specification Template
Appendix 5 Advert Template
Appendix 6 Template Application Form
Referees
Declaration
Appendix 7 Applicant Screening Form
Appendix 8 Suggested Interview Questionnaire
Appendix 9 Telephone Interview Questionnaire
Appendix 10 Reference Request Form
Appendix 11 Example Induction Checklist
Appendix 12 Example Appraisal Form
Appendix 13 Example Performance Development Plan
Appendix 14 Case Study: How Not to Treat Your People
Case Study: How Not to Treat Your People
References
Back Cover

Citation preview

Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice

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Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice Wendy Sneddon RVN, MSc, FInstLM, Assoc CIPD

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CABI is a trading name of CAB International CABI Nosworthy Way Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 8DE UK Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cabi.org

CABI WeWork One Lincoln Street 24th Floor Boston, MA 02111 USA Tel: +1 (617)682-9015 E-mail: [email protected]

© Wendy Sneddon 2021. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Sneddon, Wendy, author. Title: Ten steps to building a successful veterinary practice / written by Wendy Sneddon ; edited by Lynn Wardlaw. Description: Boston, MA : CAB International, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: "This book is a down to earth, practical guide outlining ten simple steps for recruiting, retaining and managing people in veterinary practices. The book provides valuable guidance to new practice owners and managers"-- Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2020051512 (print) | LCCN 2020051513 (ebook) | ISBN 9781786394910 (hardback) | ISBN 9781786394927 (paperback) | ISBN 9781786394934 (ebook) | ISBN 9781786394941 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Veterinary medicine--Practice. | Veterinary services--Administration. | Veterinary medicine--Economic aspects. Classification: LCC SF756.4 .S64 2021 (print) | LCC SF756.4 (ebook) | DDC 636.089/069--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051512 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051513 References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. ISBN-13: 9781786394910 (hardback) 9781786394927 (paperback) 9781786394934 (ePDF) 9781786394941 (ePub) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.0000 Commissioning Editor: Caroline Makepeace Editorial Assistant: Ali Thompson Production Editor: Shankari Wilford Typeset by SPi, Pondicherry, India Printed and bound in the UK by Severn, Gloucester

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Contents

Testimonials

viii

About the Author

ix

Preface

xi

Acknowledgements 1.  Step 1: Why?

xiii 3

2.  Step 2: Your First Time? The main functions required in every business Levels of responsibility Foundations of a successful business

11 12 15 16

3.  Step 3: Vision, Mission, Values and Culture What do I mean by vision? What do I mean by mission? How are your vision and mission statement relevant when hiring? Values and culture What do I mean by values? What do I mean by culture? How is culture relevant when hiring? Be clear about what you need

19 19 20 21 21 22 22 25 26

4.  Step 4: How to Define What and Who You Need Sample recruitment and selection policy The recruitment process The selection process Exit interviews Job description Who you need

31 32 33 34 35 35 37

5.  Step 5: Recruitment and Induction About your company

41 42

v

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vi

Contents

What are you offering? How do you want applicants to apply? Interview and selection The best start Preparation for induction

42 43 43 49 51

  6.  Step 6: Performance Management and Employee Engagement Day 1 plan for development One-on-one reviews Six-month appraisal Engagement surveys Performance improvement plan (PIP) Employee engagement

57 57 58 59 60 62 62

  7.  Step 7: Employee Health and Wellbeing Mental health challenges faced by vets Absence management Might your workplace contribute to poor mental health? Employee’s return to work Talking about mental health External support Making health and wellbeing central

67 68 68 69 70 71 73 73

  8. Step 8: How to Build a Loyal Client Database and Marketing Your Practice Providing a better client experience How are you gaining new clients? Marketing tips

77 77 78 79

  9.  Step 9: Financial Management Managing finance in veterinary practice Do you regularly review your profit and loss (P&L)?

89 89 89

10.  Step 10: Three Key Strategies to Increase Your Revenue by 25% Increase the number of new clients Get your clients to come back more often Increase the amount of money clients spend with you

97 97 98 98

Appendix 1: Organization Plan Appendix 2: Values Worksheet Appendix 3: Job Description Template Appendix 4: Person Specification Template Appendix 5: Advert Template Appendix 6: Template Application Form Appendix 7: Applicant Screening Form Appendix 8: Suggested Interview Questionnaire Appendix 9: Telephone Interview Questionnaire

99 100 101 102 103 104 109 110 113

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Contents

Appendix 10: Reference Request Form Appendix 11: Example Induction Checklist Appendix 12: Example Appraisal Form Appendix 13: Example Performance Development Plan Appendix 14: Case Study: How Not to Treat Your People

vii

117 120 122 124 125

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Testimonials

I have known Wendy, working in several management and consultancy roles. She has experienced many of the challenges that entrepreneurs face, and her insights into how to make businesses flourish, especially in relation to the all-important people aspects will be invaluable. Mark Johnston MA VetMB PhD MRCVS, Managing Director, Vetstream Ltd Wendy is someone with a big vision and a very practical attitude. She has experience in many areas as well as her own personal awareness of what it takes to run a business successfully, so she speaks from the heart and the head, and that’s a winning combination. This book takes a simple and pragmatic approach, step by step, to help entrepreneurs figure out how to prioritize and manage their time so that they can work on the business, as well as in the business. Georgia Parker, Cascade Coaching and Training

viii

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About the Author

I am a firm but fair leader with the tenacity and determination to get through anything. I have a strong work ethic and I am passionate about enjoying what I do. With nearly 30 years of experience in the veterinary profession, I have a great understanding of what practices need in order to build an engaged, motivated team. My experience is in human resources (HR), recruitment, marketing, financial management and training. My expertise lies within people management, from recruitment to exit. I also enjoy mediation and resolving conflict – the more challenging the better! I am passionate about employee engagement – we spend a lot of time at work, it should be fun! My mission is to help employers realize that they are the ones who hold the key to creating a happy, fun work environment, full of people who believe in their vision and values, and thrive in a nurturing culture. Wendy Sneddon [email protected]

ix

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Preface

I have owned and managed several businesses, and have worked with many veterinary practices over the years. Of all the tough challenges we faced, there is one common struggle – managing people! I have heard it said that people leave managers, not companies. I have also found this to be very true. All too often managers are put in positions of responsibility by default rather than being selected for their aptitude. This can work, providing the new manager is offered training and support to make the transition; however, more often than not, there is little support – and so the challenges begin. This is often true of veterinary professionals. They are highly skilled in their field, have great ideas, the drive and passion to get things done and succeed, but they can lack the skills in leading a team. The practice evolves around them, with little or no consideration for organizational development. Veterinary professionals who have taken that leap into selfemployment, because they are fabulous at what they do, now have to make the transition into leaders – often without knowing or really understanding what that means. This is, of course, a sweeping generalization; there are many veterinary professionals who become great leaders! ‘You can’t expect employees to exceed your customer’s expectations if you don’t exceed your employees’ expectations of management.’ (Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks, 2008)

Leadership and management are disciplines in themselves; take your leadership role seriously! There is a lot of information to assimilate if you want to get it right and build a successful business. Research shows that business success comes down to motivated, engaged teams. There are lots of initiatives to help you to identify how engaged your teams are, and these will provide great feedback for you to build a strategy to improve employee engagement. You need to recruit the right people for your team. It all starts with you, changing your attitude and mindset.

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Preface

xii

This book has been written for veterinary professionals who are starting up or growing their practice and will help you to set up a basic system to attract, recruit and retain great people within your business. These simple steps will ensure you have the correct procedures in place, which, if followed, will help you to successfully recruit a winning team. It will also help those practice owners who are struggling to retain good people, by giving them a framework to review their current foundations and to identify where they need strengthening. By the time you have read this book you will understand what foundations you need to have in place to build great teams. You will know what systems you require to recruit and select great people, and how to keep them! You will understand how to identify your ideal client and the marketing secrets to target them. You will also learn the basics of financial management to help you understand how to keep your business profitable. This book has been designed to be a practical guide, to get you started in the right direction. I have included recommendations for further reading throughout. It is also worth saying that you don’t have to do all of this on your own! Change Yourself First When I was young, I wanted to change the veterinary profession. When I found, I couldn’t change the veterinary profession; I began to focus on the practice. I couldn’t change the practice, so I tried to change the team. Now, older and wiser, I realize the only thing I can change is myself. Suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my team. My team and I could have made an impact on our practice. Then my practice and I could indeed have changed the veterinary profession. (Wendy’s version. The original poem has various attributions. You can read it at Cardinal Spirits (2016).)

References Cardinal Spirits (2016) The Unknown Monk. Blog, 10 May. Available at: https://www. cardinalspirits.com/spirit-trail/the-unknown-monk (accessed 3 January 2021). Schultz, H. (2008) How Starbucks Built a Global Brand. Talk at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature= player_embedded&v=_kAiEO6jP48 (accessed 3 January 2021).

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Acknowledgements

I want to thank all of those great veterinary entrepreneurs I have been fortunate enough to work closely with over the years, who gave me inspiration for this book. Thank you, Lynn Ballantyne Wardlaw, for your critical eye, helping me to perfect my masterpiece. My thanks also go to the many veterinary practice owners who have complained about the lack of great people to fill their positions, without taking any responsibility for what they might have done differently. You have given me a reason to write this book.

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Step 1: Why?

1

Knowing your why is what will get you out of bed in the morning, and on those days when everything is going wrong, will keep you going. What’s your purpose in your life, and in your business? Simon Sinek (2009, p. 42), a successful motivational speaker, says, ‘People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.’ Every veterinary practice around the world knows what they do, which is why it’s the first thing they tell people about. Only when we know why we do things, will we feel a sense of belonging, that’s because emotions come first every time. When we make a decision based on a strong why, we own it. Simon Sinek (2009) describes the ‘golden circle’, with why at the centre (Fig. 1.1). Great leaders and companies get this right by starting all communication with why they do things, followed by how they do things until finally revealing what it is they actually do. Apple is a great example. First, they tell us why they’re here to shake things up, then they tell us how (with easy-to-use, beautifully designed products) and finally we find out what they make: computers, phones, tablets and MP3 players. By the time they get to their what, we’re long sold on their cause and are ready to support them in every way we can. If you want to inspire others, start by telling them why you do what you do, instead of what you do, and you’ll see an increase in engagement. The best businesses are built by excited employees. The way you do this is by building your business around your why, and then bringing together a team who share your why. Look for the people who are already motivated by the same reasons as you are and inspire them even more. Who would you rather have working for you? Hire people for their why, not just their skills, and watch your business thrive. When you start with your why there’s no need for underhand sales tactics. When you start with why and communicate from the inside out, you’ll build a group of clients that trust you and become true fans. © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.0001

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4

Chapter 1

Fig. 1.1.  Simon Sinek’s ‘golden circle’. From Wikimedia Commons, undated.

For further information from Simon Sinek, visit www.simonsinek.com (accessed 3 January 2020) or watch his Ted Talk ‘Start With Why’ (available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA (accessed 3 March 2021)). Do you ever take time out to think about whether you’re satisfied with your life? Do you think about what your future might hold? These are questions that might not be easily answered. The job that you found challenging and satisfying 10 years ago may no longer be as fulfilling. Before you can start to make the changes you need to bring satisfaction and balance back into your life, you have to understand what drives you; what makes you want to get up in the morning. Finding clarity about what motivates you can help you plan for the future. If you ever ask yourself ‘Is this it?’, take the time to know what led you to ‘this’ in the first place. Only then can you start to build your future. There are also times when life can seem overwhelming. Stress, too few hours in the day, too many commitments, pressure … What led you to become a veterinary professional? Generally this choice fulfilled certain needs; these same needs continue to motivate you now. Recognizing what these needs are can inform the decisions you’re taking now for your future. Quite often, the seeds of our career choice go back to our childhood. Growing up with a family pet teaches us the responsibility of having another living being who is relying on us for food, shelter and care.

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Step 1: Why?

5

Professor Lance Workman, a psychologist from the University of South Wales, has said: I firmly believe that pets provide an invaluable taster for adult life. If you care for a pet, this helps you to develop compassion, and to realise that you have a responsibility towards others. And later on in life, we can transfer those skills to our relationships with friends and partners. (Workman, cited in Pets at Home, 2015)

For a lucky few of us, that interest in animals and concern for their welfare leads naturally to a career in veterinary practice. We want to improve the lives of animals and, by extension, their owners. An interest in the science is also a significant factor in choosing this career. Discovery, problem solving, research, evaluation, observation, knowledge and progression – all of these things float our boat. We want a career where every day’s a school day. We enjoy learning and honing our skills. We never want to be bored by what we do. A few years ago, I met a veterinary surgeon who had shown an interest in joining our group of practices. She had excellent qualifications, wideranging skills and very relevant experience. In truth, she stood head and shoulders above most of our vets. My colleague and I struggled to understand why she would want to join our business. We didn’t offer exceptional salaries, the hours were terrible and there was little career progression. We took the time to understand her motivation. She was first and foremost an educator. Her passion was to pass on her knowledge and skills to other veterinary surgeons. We quickly stopped looking this particular gift horse in the mouth and offered her a job. The value she brought to our practices is immeasurable; her knowledge, skills and training have enriched a generation of veterinary surgeons. For a lot of people in the profession, these are all the reasons they need. They are brilliant clinicians, amazing nurses, caring receptionists. They are the people who make our profession worthwhile. Then there are those of us who are looking for more. We want to be in control of our destiny. ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.’ (Peter Drucker, management consultant, cited in Cohen, 2009, p. 4)

We want to understand how business works. We have an appreciation of the mechanics of running a practice that is successful in business terms, as well as providing a service to animals and their owners. We recognize that success can be measured by a number of factors: (i) animal welfare; (ii) client satisfaction; (iii) client/database growth; (iv) stable and motivated employees; (v) market share; (vi) professional standards; or even (vii) personal income.

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Chapter 1

We also relish some of the challenges facing veterinary practices, including a demanding marketplace, a downward pressure on veterinary salaries, more regulation, the growth of the corporate sector, declining profits and growing stress. We want to see the spreadsheets; cashflow, margins and overheads are fascinating! Making loads of money may not be the main motivation for creating a business, but profits are essential for building a successful practice. It’s not all about the money, of course. There has to be an appreciation of the limits of medicines combined with taking on board the ethics that underpin our profession. In an era of corporate responsibility, clients recognize the importance of ethics. A survey by VetFutures shows that 94% of those surveyed trust veterinary surgeons generally or completely (VetFutures, 2015). Find out more at https://www.vetfutures.org.uk/resource/public-trust-in-the-professions-may2015/ (accessed 3 January 2021). We owe this high recognition to generations of veterinary practices. The reputation of the profession has grown through dealing with animal welfare challenges, while delivering a professional, caring and compassionate service to our clients. The practices of today have a responsibility to continue the standards set by our predecessors. Then there are the people. A vital part of any veterinary practice is the people. We are committed to managing, training and communicating with vets, nurses, receptionists and technicians. They’re our team. I was recently chatting to the Finance Director of a multinational company with offices in Europe, North America and Asia. It may be selfdeprecating, but he believes that the secret to his success is the ability to find and retain the people who can do the things he can’t. Your practice can only be successful if you manage to combine your commitment to the profession with your passion for business. This isn’t as easy as you may have at first thought. Of course, if it were that easy, we’d all do it! ‘There’s a fire in your belly’ may be a cliché, but it is there. You have to believe that your practice can push the quality of care and experience of both your fellow professionals and your clients to new heights. Can you see, smell and touch your future? Have you spent time visualizing exactly what you want to create? It’s fair to say that our imagination is a powerful tool. Sports people routinely use mental imagery to improve their performance. Sports scientists believe that imaginary actions are experienced in similar ways to actual actions; we can activate many of the same neural networks. Imagining doing a series of movements can make us better at executing them in real life. Jack Nicklaus, the professional golfer, would practise a shot in his mind before taking the shot in reality. The same principles apply with mental challenges. Imagining success can enhance motivation and confidence.

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Step 1: Why?

7

I described this earlier as ‘visualization’, but imagination involves all five senses. Immersing yourself fully in a mental image can make it seem like it’s really happening. What do you see, smell, hear and feel? Like all things worthwhile in life, practice makes perfect. Rather than spending a few moments imagining arriving at your goal, consider all the challenges you are going to face to reach whatever success you are striving for. Revisit your vision regularly. Think about writing down how you imagine arriving at your goal. Strategies you can use to improve how you imagine meeting the challenges you may be facing include: • Celebrate how far you’ve come. Instead of looking at how far you still have to go, recognize what you’ve already achieved. • Imagine every step on your journey, rather than focusing on the goal. • Don’t imagine everything going perfectly. What could go wrong, and how can you overcome these difficulties? • Be true to yourself. Your goals can be achieved, by the very best version of you. ‘The clearer you are when visualizing your dreams, the brighter the spotlight will be to lead you on the right path.’ (Gail Lynne Goodwin, 2020)

Ambition and vision together are incredibly powerful when it comes to building your business, whether that’s one practice or 50. Once you see where you’re going, it’s a lot easier to take the right roads to get there. In an interview Sir Richard Branson said: ‘My main driver is the same today as it was when I launched my first company five decades ago: to make a positive difference in people’s lives and change business for good. I believe that companies should have a purpose at their core, no matter what industry they’re in.’ (Branson, interviewed by Ohr, 2018)

Without this drive and vision, the long hours and sleepless nights can crush you. You are responsible not only for your own welfare and future, but also those of your team. Waking up at 3 a.m. worrying about your business can impair your ability to come up with creative answers to whatever challenges you’re facing in the morning. That long night of the soul can make you question every aspect of your business. What if clients take their animals to other practices? Did I remember to renew the buildings insurance? What if there’s a fire and I can’t afford to rebuild? What if I can’t pay my employees? Fear, uncertainty and self-doubt can hit the most driven of entrepreneurs and business people. When this happens, it can help to get back to basics: Why do you want to do this?

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Chapter 1

References Cohen, W. (2009) Drucker on Leadership: New Lessons from the Father of Modern Management. Josse-Bass, Hoboken, New Jersey. Goodwin, G.L. (2020) Inspiration Archives. Available at: https://inspiremetoday. com/photos/the-clearer-you-are-when-visualizing-your-dreams-the-brighterthe-spotlight-will-be-to-lead-on-the-right-path/ (accessed 3 January 2021). Ohr, T. (2018) Everyone is Born an Entrepreneur! An exclusive interview with Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson. 14 August. Available at: https:// www.eu-startups.com/2018/08/everyone-is-born-an-entrepreneur-an-exclusiveinterview-with-virgin-group-founder-sir-richard-branson/ (accessed 3 January 2020). Pets at Home (2015) The Pet Report. Available at: http://petreport.petsathome.com (accessed 3 January 2021). Sinek, S. (2009) Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Portfolio, New York. VetFutures (2015) Public Trust in the Professions – May 2015. Available at: https:// www.vetfutures.org.uk/resource/public-trust-in-the-professions-may-2015/ (accessed 3 January 2021). Wikimedia Commons (undated) File: Golden Circle Simon Sinek.png. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=simon+sineks+golden+ circle&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go&ns0=1&ns6=1&ns12=1&ns14=1& ns100=1&ns106=1 (accessed 8 January 2021).

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So, you’ve set up your own practice. Congratulations! You have created a business, things are going great, you’re doing really well, you’re building up your base of satisfied clients, but you are working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week! ‘You don’t build a business. You build people, and people build the business.’ (‘Zig’ Ziglar, undated)

You are exhausted! You hardly see your family or friends, and you have no social life. Life can’t go on like this – you will burn out! There is another aspect of working in practice that we haven’t touched on yet. Compassion fatigue. Unlike many businesses, veterinary practice exposes us to death and emotional extremes on a regular basis. There are many articles concerning the toll compassion fatigue can take on the lives of those working in the profession, as well as offering practical tools to combat this. Interestingly, the advice is much the same for burnout as for compassion fatigue. • Create space every day to be at peace, however demanding your day may be. • Eat healthily; take time out to sit and eat the things you know your body needs. • Keep talking to colleagues, family and friends – people who understand. • Sleep! Don’t underestimate the importance of winding down before going to bed. • If you’re really unhappy with your work environment, change it. As a business owner, you’re in the privileged position of having the power to make the changes that matter to you. • Take time out, and regularly. Trust your team to do their job. Why don’t you explore some of the apps available that can help your wellbeing and mental resilience, such as: • Mindbody; • Buddhify; • Calm; © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.0002

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• The Mindfulness App; • Headspace; and • Daylio. Finding the balance between work and life was probably one of your motivations for going into business in the first place. It won’t be easy, but that balance is essential if you’re going to be effective in the long run. The time has come to offload some of your responsibilities so you can continue to build on your success. I know what you’re thinking: ‘no one can do what I do’. Right? Wrong! Up to now, you’ve been covering all the roles in the business. The time has come to bring in the experts who are going to help you take your business to the next level. Remember my friend the Finance Director from Chapter 1, this volume? It is so important to take the time to consider what skills you have, where your strengths lie, and where your weaknesses are. The table in Appendix 1 (an organization plan) shows the roles and levels required within any business. Put your name in the boxes where your strengths lie, and what’s left are the gaps you need to fill.

The main functions required in every business Human resources (HR) All businesses involve people and the relationships they build with the team and with customers and the service they deliver. There are legal requirements to comply with, such as having contracts in place and a handbook stating their rights as an employee. More importantly, how are you going to attract them and what are you offering? By that, I don’t just mean pay. People are looking for a better work–life balance. What is it really like to work with you? What will people learn and what are the opportunities? How can you get them excited about being part of your journey? Being an employer brings so many challenges and responsibilities. These include your responsibilities for employment taxes. The first practical step you should take when you become an employer is to register with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). You can do this online at https:// www.gov.uk/register-employer (accessed 3 January 2021). Digital HR If you think about it, most of the transactions and processes that a business has to undertake when employing people can be automated. This automation includes self-service, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation.

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Mobile app developments make this automation easy to roll out to employees. In fact, this fits in with my belief that the whole HR process starts way before you hire somebody. Rather than thinking about HR as performing a series of processes, you’re mapping the journey an employee experiences while working for you. This journey lends itself to automation, rather than you having to record each step of the journey. There is a lot of buzz around automation in recruitment. It would make sense to extend this approach to the whole joining process. This could include candidate assessment, interviewing, offers, induction/employee onboarding, training, meeting colleagues and learning about the job. It is even possible that this could be encompassed in a mobile app. That same app or software could also allow employees to update their own HR records with changes of address, emergency contacts, continuing professional development (CPD), and so on. Rather than simply automating new manager training, it is now possible to automate assessment of leadership potential and development. This could include development, education, networking and coaching. Automation tools can obviously reduce costs as well as the administrative burden. All of this may seem like overkill for a smaller business, but this type of approach can be tailored to your business, as well as future-proofing the HR function as your business grows. Operations How do things work on a day-to-day basis? Write an operations manual that sets out what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. You have probably worked in different practices with different operations manuals. This is your opportunity to tailor a manual to your business vision. Information technology (IT) All businesses require some form of IT infrastructure. It is advantageous to seek advice sooner rather than later. Consider what you might need over the next 5–10 years and invest in equipment and software than can grow and expand with you. Marketing How are you getting your practice known to pet owners? How can you build on your existing client base? What kind of budget do you have? You should be spending at least 5% of your turnover on marketing activities.

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Finance Knowing your numbers is key to business success. Have some key performance indicators that will help you to monitor performance; check these daily and stay close to them so you can act quickly if your business performance starts to drift. What business structure is best for your practice? Get professional advice to help you decide whether you should conduct your business as a sole trader, partnership or limited company. One size doesn’t fit all and there will be a number of factors to take into consideration. It is also important that you understand government requirements from the start. Are you registered for value-added tax (VAT)? Do you have a recognized pension scheme for your employees? Is your software compliant with digital reporting? In short, ask around and find yourself a reputable and effective accountant. The sooner you involve a good accountant, the more financially astute your decisions will be. An accountant can help when you prepare your business plan. This is one of the most important things you will do when starting up. An effective plan will help you to gain funding from potential investors, and help you to crystallize your business objectives. Your business plan should include: • A business description and mission statement – These should identify your primary business objectives and how you are going to meet them. • Management and people profiles – This is the opportunity to showcase your team and their qualifications to help deliver your business objectives. • A financial portrait and strategy – It is important to provide details of funding sources and financial projections, such as cash flow and anticipated profit, as realistically as possible. • Sales and marketing objectives – What is your market? How are you going to bring your practice to that market? Include competitor research: what their practice offers, their pricing structure and market share. • An executive summary – This should cover the main points from each section of the business plan. Bear in mind that potential investors in the first instance may only read this. Your business plan has to be grounded in reality. Make sure you understand your market through thorough research. Any forecasts should be realistic. Include your competitors and potential risks. If you do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis don’t forget to include your weaknesses and threats. A picture paints a thousand words, so use graphics and charts where possible, as well as ensuring the overall look of your presentation is professional. The plan should cover all relevant information, but keep it punchy and focused so potential investors don’t switch off.

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At the early stages of your business there are certain key planning decisions that your accountant can help you with. Which business structure? One of your first decisions is the business structure that best suits your needs: sole trader, partnership, limited liability partnership or limited company. When choosing a business structure you should take into account how much control you retain, tax implications and the costs associated with each type of business. Your accountant can provide guidance in deciding on the best fit. Choose your year end It is important to choose the right year end for your business. Is your business seasonal? Is there a time of year when it will be more convenient to close off your accounts, allowing your accountant to prepare your financial statements? An unincorporated business may benefit from a year end that is early in the tax year. In this way, increasing profits aren’t captured immediately in the business’s tax bill. Raising finance It is likely that you’re going to need an injection of finance when starting your practice. Deciding which lending source works for your business takes careful planning and understanding the different types of lenders. Some of the more common sources include: (i) overdrafts; (ii) loans; (iii) mortgages; (iv) share issues (for a company); (v) assistance from government-backed schemes or local authorities; and (vi) venture capital. Each of these offers different restrictions or flexibility in the longer term. An accountant can help you look at the costs and tax implications for each source, helping to identify the right option for your business. Most lenders will expect some form of security before providing finance. This may take the form of a ‘floating charge’ over the assets of your business. However, a lender may ask for personal guarantees, in which case you should weigh up the risk of losing personal assets such as your home. Once your practice is in business, your accountant will continue to provide invaluable support; a key area is in minimizing your tax bill. There are various ways of saving tax, including using capital allowances and involving family members in the practice.

Levels of responsibility There are also three levels of responsibility for each role within a business: • strategic – responsible for planning the long-term strategy of the business;

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• management – responsible for putting the strategy in place at the right time and making it happen; and • day to day – getting the work done. See Appendix 1 for an organization plan. Up until now it’s been just you, filling all of these roles. Now it’s time to delegate some of these responsibilities to more appropriate people. You have some choices: you can outsource some, or all, of these roles, or you can recruit your own team. It’s time to get out of the way and let the experts in to do their thing! Once you have made the decision – and it is probably one of the most important decisions you will ever make – you have a long way to go until you are ready to hire. There are several things you need to consider and have in place to help your new team understand what you are all about, what you want to achieve and how you expect them to behave.

Foundations of a successful business The elements required to build the foundations of a successful business are shown in Table 2.1. Vision You need to have a clear vision for the future, ‘the what’ – so people know where you are taking the business. What are your ambitions for growth, what do you want to achieve, what do you want to be known for?

Table 2.1.  Elements required to build the foundations of a successful business. Element

Description

Vision

What does the world look like in the future, what do you want to have achieved How are you going to achieve your vision? What is important to you, your business and the team you build as you create your vision? What is your plan? What are your tactics and goals to achieve your vision? What resources will you need to have in place? What steps do you need to take that will lead you to achieve your vision What are the activities you need to do?

Mission Values Strategy Tactics Goals Actions

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Mission You need to have a mission statement that easily sums up what your business does. It’s the phrase that describes how you are going to achieve your vision. Values What is important to you and to your business? Your values form the basis of your culture and become the principles you live and breathe by. Culture The culture is about what it is like to work in your business. How do you want people to work and play? What kind of culture do you want to develop? How do you want people to behave? What type of people do you want to associate with? Once you are clear about what you want from these areas in your business, you can go on to create your job descriptions and person specifications. This will help you to: • clarify what type of person and what skills and experience you are looking for; • create the perfect advert to attract them; • obtain the criteria to design your interview; and • make your final decision. The secret to success in business lies with the experience, drive and ambition of the manager. Select managers who believe in your vision, mission, values and culture. You need them to back your beliefs, share out responsibilities and foster team engagement. Invest in training for your managers in how to support your team and your business will thrive. All of this is key to your business success and the more suggestions you put in place, the more value you are creating for your business when it comes to selling.

Further Reading Barrett Values Centre (undated) Available at: www.valuescentre.com (accessed 3 January 2020). Ziglar, T. (undated) You Don’t Build a Business. Available at: https://www.ziglar.com/ articles/dont-build-business/ (accessed 3 January 2020).

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What’s it like to work for you and your practice? This chapter will help you answer this question.

What do I mean by vision? ‘Begin with the end in mind.’ (Stephen Covey, 2004)

The vision is an inspirational and compelling story about the future you want to create for you and your business. It is about where you want to take your business, the dreams and ambitions that you have, and what you want to achieve. What do you want to be remembered for? Just as Stephen Covey describes in his famous book about the seven habits of highly effective people, the very first habit is ‘begin with the end in mind’. What is your exit strategy for your business? Are you retiring and passing it on to a family member? Are you creating something of value that you want to sell? Who is your ideal buyer? Consider this now, as you may want to grow and develop into a business that will be of interest to that particular company or person in the future. When you think about what you want your life to be like in the future, consider how much money you want to make. What turnover do you want to achieve? Who will be your ideal customers? What other products might you want to develop in the future? What other ideas do you have that will take you forward to help you achieve your end goal? How to write your vision What is your destination? What future are you creating? What do you want to be known for? Describe what you deliver – not what you do. So if you make socks, you are keeping feet warm and cosy. © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.0003

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What is unique about you? Why should people buy your socks instead of your competitors’ socks? What accolades have you achieved or do you want to achieve in the future – are there any specific to your industry? What are your financial goals?

What do I mean by mission? Your mission statement describes how you are going to achieve your vision. It defines, in a paragraph or so, a business’s reason for existence. It embodies its philosophies, goals, ambitions and more. A business that attempts to operate without a mission statement runs the risk of missing out on customers and employees as they don’t know what you are about. Some examples of mission statements are: ‘We are once again working to revolutionize mobility, fueled by new challenges and creating solutions to build a better world for everyone. Our mission is to drive human progress through the freedom of movement.’ (Ford Motor Company, 2020) ‘Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.’ (Nike, undated) ‘Become essential to our customers by providing differentiated products and services to help them achieve their aspirations.’ (American Express, 2020) ‘At Ikea our vision is to create a better everyday life for many people. Our business idea supports this by offering a wide range of well-designed functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.’ (Ikea, 2020) ‘Our mission: to provide superior quality healthcare services that: patients recommend to family and friends, physicians prefer for their patients, purchasers select for their clients, employees are proud of, and investors seek for long-term returns.’ (Universal Health Services, Inc., undated)

How to write your mission statement So what do you do? Sum it up as succinctly as possible. Who benefits from what you do and in what way? A mission statement is a short statement, around 15 words, that sums up three basic things: 1.  What you do. 2.  Who you do it for. 3.  Under what conditions.

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Ensure that you have integrity when writing this – don’t make claims you can’t substantiate! Saying you are the best vet in the UK is too general a statement, and unless you have an award that says so, it’s false. Your team won’t feel it and your clients won’t believe you.

How are your vision and mission statement relevant when hiring? Jobseekers want to know that your business has an identity and they want to know what you stand for. If you want to keep a team motivated, the mission statement will give them your direction and inspiration. Take action … Create your vision and design a mission statement so everyone knows what you want to achieve and how you are going to get there.

Values and culture ‘When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.’ (Roy E. Disney, cited in Liddell, undated)

All too often the values that make up the culture of a business either reflect the underlying beliefs and values of the current leaders, or they reflect the values of past leaders. Most businesses don’t pay attention to the culture, so the values and beliefs of the leaders become ‘the way we do things here’. When there is no alignment between the values of the culture of the business and the personal values of the employees, the result is low performance, low levels of staff engagement and poor quality of products and services. This has a significant impact on the financial performance of the business. When the values of the business are in alignment with the values of the employees, the result is high performance, a high level of team engagement, and a drive for excellence with the quality of products and services. When the values of the business and the team are united, the culture of a business is able to attract and retain talented individuals. This will give a business a significant commercial advantage, especially when great people are in short supply. Having your values integrated into your business culture also helps you to build a strong brand. Brand values and company values are like two sides of the same coin. The success of a business is directly related to the degree of coordination between the underlying values of the leaders and the values of the team.

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Long-term, sustainable success is dependent on the culture that the leaders create. The culture that leaders create is dependent on the behaviour of the leaders and their relationships to other leaders and their relationships with their teams. Leaders whose energies are about status seeking, empire building and internal competition create toxic environments. Business transformation begins with the personal transformation of the leaders. The key to developing a high-performance culture lies with the leadership. In order to grasp the process and benefits of a whole-system approach to developing your culture, it is important to measure the desired cultures of a successful business, thereby identifying the desired leadership styles. For cultural alignment, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of where you want your business to go.

What do I mean by values? Values are the things that you believe are important to you in life and work. They will determine your priorities, and, deep down, they’re probably the measures you use to tell if your life is turning out the way you want it to. When the things you do and how you behave match your values, life is usually good – you’re satisfied and content. But when these don’t align with your personal values, that’s when things feel wrong. This can be a real source of unhappiness. This is why making a conscious effort to identify your values is so important. Examples of values are listed in Box 3.1. How to elicit your values Check out the list of examples of values in Box 3.1. These are words and statements that mean something to us. Select five values, either from the list or come up with your own, and write them in the table in the values worksheet in Appendix 2. Richard Barrett set up the Barrett Values Centre and has developed a number of Cultural Transformation Tools. They do a great free personal values assessment which is available at: https://www.valuescentre.com/toolsassessments/pva/ (accessed 3 January 2021).

What do I mean by culture? Your culture is the ethos of your business. Be clear about who you are and what you stand for. Defining your culture is going to help you to develop a

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Box 3.1.  A–Z of values. Accountability Achievement Balance (home/work) Commitment Compassion Competence Continuous learning Cooperation Courage Creativity Efficiency Enthusiasm Ethics Excellence Fairness Family Financial gain Friendships Future generations Health

Honesty Humour/fun Independence Initiative Integrity Intuition Making a difference Open communication Openness Personal fulfilment Personal growth Power Respect Responsibility Risk taking Self-discipline Success Trust Wisdom

competitive advantage. Ethical values and strong employee engagement are just as important as the quality of the products and services that you sell. A failure to embrace values, culture and ethical leadership has led to the demise of many of the larger corporations over the past few decades. Consider the failures at Enron, Northern Rock and RBS. They are testimony to this fact; billions of dollars of shareholder value and employee pensions were wiped out overnight because of the actions of a leadership team who were only out for themselves. How do you create the ideal culture? How do you behave when you are at work? Do you greet everyone with a cheery ‘good morning’? Do you check in with the team to see how everyone is? This makes everyone feel welcome and feel comfortable. Or are you a ‘mood vacuum’? Do you suck the life out of everyone when you walk into a room? It is up to you to set the example of how you want your team to behave at work. How do you want your team members to feel when they are at work? How do you want them to behave and interact with each other? Produce a statement that describes your culture – expand on your mission statement and elaborate on what type of relationships and behaviour you expect from your team to help them achieve this.

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Once you have decided on the type of culture you want to develop, as a business leader it is your responsibility to ensure that the culture is disseminated throughout your team, you need to be prepared to live and breathe it, leading by example. Day in and day out, you need to ensure that your team believes in it. Reinforce, recognize and reward behaviour that is consistent with your culture. Here are some tips to help you create the ideal culture to foster employee engagement and business success. 1. Employ the right people first time round Employ people for their passion and commitment first, experience second, and credentials third. Anyone can write an impressive curriculum vitae (CV), so look for people who are interested in the same things as you are. Ask the questions: • • •

What do you love about your career? What inspires you? What courses in school did you dread?

You want to get a sense of what the potential employee believes in. 2. Have a consistent communication strategy Once you have the right people, they need feedback! Sit down regularly with them and discuss what is going well and what isn’t. Celebrate successes and analyse failures. A strong growth culture is one that recognizes when things don’t work and adjusts to rectify the problems. Your team needs to feel safe and trusted. They should understand that they can speak freely without fear of repercussion. Great cultures grow around people who listen to each other, to clients and to stakeholders. It’s also important to listen to what’s happening in your market. What developments and trends are happening? 3. Weed out the ‘victims’ A team of passionate people can be easily compromised by the wrong people. One of the most destructive corporate weeds is the victim. Victims are the ones who complain about everything, taking no responsibility, sowing doubt and stifling passion. Maybe these people simply aren’t a good fit. Your passion isn’t theirs. Constructive criticism is healthy, but relentless complaining is toxic to your team and your business. Identify quickly who these people are and replace them! 4. Work hard, play hard Passionate teams require a strong work ethic. It’s easy to do what you love. Not many industries these days thrive on a 40-hour work week. A culture where everyone understands that long hours are sometimes required will work if this sacrifice is recognized and rewarded.

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5. Be clear about your ambitions Ambition is sometimes seen as a negative these days, but without it we would stagnate. You need a culture that supports big steps and powerful beliefs. More importantly share them and create a compelling vision for your team to aspire to. 6. Celebrate differences When choosing students for a programme/degree course, most universities now consider more than just marks. If you had a dozen straight-A students who were from the same socio-economic background and the same geographical area, you might not get much in the way of interesting debate or interaction. Great cultures are built on a diversity of background, experience and interests. These differences generate energy, which is critical to any enterprise. 7. Create the space Innovation is a prized element in any business. When designing your workspace, promote as much team interaction as possible. Design spaces where the team will come together, both in workspace and in common rest areas. It is this interaction of the team at all levels that helps to breed revolutionary ideas. Foster creative chats over coffee, or create lunch and learn sessions to share knowledge and generate discussions. Do you provide opportunity for this? If not, is there some way you can? 8. Take the long view If your business is dependent on this quarter’s sales or this month’s targets, then it is handicapped by short-term thinking. Passionate leaders take the long view. The culture needs to look ahead, not just in months but in years and even decades.

How is culture relevant when hiring? When I started writing this book, recruitment was being conducted against a background of low unemployment, with many more jobs than applicants. During the 3 months to January 2019, the Office for National Statistics reported that unemployment had fallen by 112, 000 to 1.34 million. The unemployment rate was at 75.5%, the highest rate of people in work since 1971! Jobseekers had the luxury of choosing from a variety of positions. Employers had to really sell their business and their team and clearly state why people would want to work for them. I’m updating the book in May 2020 during lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the ‘new normal’ is still unclear, all indications are that we are entering a period of mass unemployment. While it is likely you will have a larger number of applicants to evaluate for any new role, the basic principles for attracting the best candidates remain the same.

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Employees want to have clear expectations set for them. They want regular feedback so that they know when they are doing a good job. They want to have fun at work with colleagues who are respectful to one another. Consider your business: what have you got to offer? Make it be known that you have an open, friendly, respectful culture, and you will attract the right people to your team. All too often I hear employers complain about the lack of good applicants, about how they spend time and money training them up and they leave. We hear a lot about ‘millennials’ in the workplace. In a nutshell, employees are no longer prepared to work long hours for little or no recognition. This generation is focused on work–life balance. They want to come to work and enjoy it, knowing what is expected of them and be recognized and rewarded appropriately. They want a shift pattern that gives them time with their families, and to take up hobbies. How do your employees know what constitutes good performance? I know businesses who are still not issuing contracts or preparing job descriptions. Is it any wonder why some people don’t perform? They don’t really know what’s expected of them! These are your employees and it is your responsibility to make sure everybody is engaged and focused on achieving the goals of the business. When you do lose employees, you should carry out an exit interview. • •

Why are they leaving? Is there anything you could have done differently to allow them to stay?

This is your opportunity to understand what it is like working in your business, and make any changes that will make your business a great place to work.

Be clear about what you need Here is a form to help you think about and clarify your vision, the mission statement and the values and culture of your business. Be clear about what you need. What is your vision for your business? Where do you see yourself in 5 and 10 years? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ What is your mission statement? What do you do, who do you do it for and under what conditions? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Take action now … Agree on a set of values for your business and clearly describe how they integrate into your culture. What are your values? What’s important to you and to your business? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

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What’s your culture like? How do you want people to feel when they work for you? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

References American Express (2020) Our Mission. Available at: https://www.americanexpress. com/in/company/mission.html (accessed 3 January 2021). Covey, S.R. (2004) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, 15th anniversary edn. Free Press, New York. Ford Motor Company (2020) Our Purpose. Available at: https://corporate.ford.com/ about/purpose.html (accessed 3 January 2021). Ikea (2020) About the IKEA Group. Available at: https://www.ikea.com/ms/en_JP/ about_ikea/the_ikea_way/our_business_idea/ (accessed 3 January 2021). Liddell, N. (undated) The Usual Suspects. The Marketing Society. Available at: https://www.marketingsociety.com/the-gym/usual-suspects (accessed 3 January 2021). Nike (undated) Read Nike’s Mission Statement. Available at: https://about.nike. com/ (accessed 3 January 2021). Universal Health Services, Inc. (undated) Mission Statement. Available at: https:// www.uhsinc.com/mission-statement/#:~:text=To%20provide%20superior%20 quality%20healthcare,seek%20for%20long%2Dterm%20returns (accessed 3 January 2021).

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Step 4: How to Define What and Who You Need

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‘Great vision without great people is irrelevant.’ (Jim Collins, undated)

Over the years I have worked with a number of veterinary practices to assist with recruitment. What many of them have in common is that they were not clear about what kind of person they were looking for. Can you say that you know exactly what you are looking for? If not, how can you be confident that you are taking on the right person for the job? How often have you gone through a lengthy recruitment process and then ended up with the wrong person? Have you been frustrated with the time, money and resources that have been wasted in making the wrong decision? Or have they not stayed with you because after a while they realized you have no foundations in place, or they don’t share your values? You need to establish a policy for recruitment. The recruitment and selection decision is one of the most important decisions you will make, and getting it right will contribute significantly towards your effectiveness as a business. The recruitment and selection process will set out how you want your business to recruit people and will ensure that you select new recruits who share your values and understand your culture. The recruitment policy ensures your recruitment and selection process will: • ensure all applicants are treated fairly, without discrimination and in a consistent manner; • meet legal regulations and best practice, as well as being compliant with the Equality Act 2010; and • use the best means to attract the most suitable applicants. The procedures set out in your recruitment and selection policy should be followed each and every time a new team member is recruited at any level, from a receptionist or administrator to an office manager or company director. © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.0004

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The recruitment and selection policy should clearly set out procedures for: • the recruitment process as a whole; • advertising of vacancies; • recruitment materials; • the candidate application process; • shortlisting; • interview procedures; • the offer/rejection process; and • referencing. The policy should include your policy on equal opportunities – a statement declaring that you will hire employees based on their ability to do the job and not discriminate in any way. Outline your recruitment process. List your job descriptions, person specifications and any other job information. Consider your advertising policy – where will you advertise? Ensure you comply with your equal opportunities statement. What is your selection process? How will you make your decisions and what information will you collect – application forms, CVs, psychometric tests, references, interviews, work-based assessments? Carry out exit interviews, follow up with leavers and get feedback to help you identify issues and further improve the workplace.

Sample recruitment and selection policy Policy The purpose of this recruitment policy is to enable the selection of the best person for the job, using a structured approach to the recruitment process. It ensures that consistency and fairness is achieved and complies with our own equal opportunities policy and with current employment legislation. All job applicants will be treated equally, irrespective of their sex, marital status, race, ethnic origin, disability, religion, creed, sexual orientation, age or political views. The recruitment and selection decision is one of the most important decisions you will make for the business, and getting it right will contribute significantly towards your effectiveness as a business. The recruitment and selection procedure will help you to ensure that you select new recruits who share your values and are willing to learn new skills, adapt and work as part of a team. This policy ensures your recruitment and selection process will: • • •

be fair and consistent; be non-discriminatory; and conform to all statutory regulations and agreed best practice.

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Equal opportunities The company seeks to recruit employees on the basis of their ability and the requirements of the post. You should ensure that no applicant receives less favourable treatment than another on the grounds of disability, gender, race, religion or belief, age, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, caring responsibilities or hours of work. To ensure that these policy aims are achieved, managers with recruitment responsibilities should receive training in effective recruitment and selection.

The recruitment process The following steps ensure that you are using best practice when recruiting a new member of staff. Define the job Draw up a job description and consider the salary and benefits you will offer. Prepare a person specification Describe the type of person you are looking for to fill this post. Collate information Collate information that is appropriate for the post, ready for e-mailing out to potential candidates. This should include: • • •

job description and person specification (if available); information on the company; and terms and conditions of employment, including salary (if agreed) and benefits.

It is important that this pack (information) is carefully put together in order to present a professional image of the company. Consider effective ways of advertising the vacancy These may include: • advertising internally within the business; • checking previous applications and contacting suitable candidates (­ensure that previous applications are only held for the period of time specified in your General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) policy);

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• • • • •

advertising in the job centre; advertising on relevant job sites; using social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook); placing adverts in the local/national press or relevant trade and professional journals; and using recruitment agencies.

Design the advert Try to include enough information to make sure you’re targeting the best group of applicants, while keeping the advert concise and interesting.

The selection process Depending on the role, you may decide on different selection processes. Some positions could be satisfactorily filled using a straightforward interview and perhaps some form of skills testing. For more senior posts, you may want to consider psychometric testing, presentations on a chosen topic, and a series of individual or panel interviews. Once you have received all applications by the closing date, use the person specification to make a shortlist of candidates. Design a screening matrix to assist with this process. This will give a record of the criteria used to shortlist applicants, as well as making it easier to draw up your shortlist. Invite the shortlisted candidates for an interview; candidates who have not been shortlisted should also be informed. At least two people should be involved on the interview panel. Before interviewing, each member of the panel should receive the following interview pack: • copies of the original application (either application forms or CVs and covering letters); • blank interview questionnaires; and • copies of the job advert, job description and person specification. You should also consider: • • •

the interview format; which areas you want to focus on; and who should chair the interview panel.

At the interview, you should ensure that: • the interview covers all areas previously agreed and answers are documented as fully as possible; and • equal opportunities legislation is taken into account and that there is no discrimination during the interview.

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Once interviews have been completed, the panel should score each candidate using a candidate assessment form. This scoring should inform the recruitment decision. The unsuccessful candidates should also be informed of the panel’s decision. It is usual to wait until the successful candidate has accepted the position before doing this. Next steps: • Contact the successful candidate as soon as possible, agreeing a start date and salary (subject to satisfactory references). • Following receipt of satisfactory references and any pre-employment checks, send out an offer letter. • Contact unsuccessful candidates. • Create a new HR record. • Handle any logistical requirements, such as relocation expenses or temporary accommodation. • Arrange an induction programme based on the position filled, preferably within the first week of employment.

Exit interviews All employees who leave the employment of the company voluntarily will have an exit interview with their manager before their last day of employment. Exit interviews provide the opportunity for departing employees to discuss their reasons for leaving. The information provided is useful in identifying trends, learning and development, and evaluating the effectiveness of HR policies and practices. The appropriate line manager should receive all appropriate information, such as recommendations made for change, or significant issues raised in the exit interview questionnaire, while bearing in mind confidentiality issues. The exit interview questionnaire will be retained on the employee’s personal file.

Job description Before you advertise a position, review the job description and ensure it is relevant to the job and completely up to date. As any business evolves, so do the day-to-day duties and responsibilities involved within roles. Take the time to ensure that if you are replacing someone, the job description is correct and fully up to date. This will save you time, resources and money in the future by helping to ensure that you are recruiting the right person for the right role. If the job description isn’t accurate, and you take on a new person, you will be risking a high turnover

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rate as their expectations may well differ from the realities of the day-to-day aspects of the role. Developing a job description for each role is essential for the success of your business. Job descriptions create clarity for both the employee and you as their manager. According to Gallup, a management consulting company, one of the biggest motivating factors for employees is clarity within their role (Gallup, undated). That is, they know what they’re supposed to do and how to do it. Your expectations of them are clearly laid out so there is no dispute over what they should or shouldn’t be doing. A job description is a written statement explaining: • • • •

job title, hours of work, place of work, who to report to; why the role exists; what roles and responsibilities the job holder will have; and what specific tasks they are required to do.

Why have job descriptions? Job descriptions will improve your ability to manage your team. They will: • • • • • • •

clarify expectations; enable you to measure performance; provide a clear description of the job; help with structuring fair pay and grading systems; provide a reference tool in case of a dispute or for discipline issues; highlight areas for training and development; and provide an objective reference point for performance reviews.

The job description should be used during the recruitment process so the applicants understand the role and what is required of them, ensuring the person you select can fully commit to the job. Roles and responsibilities The first paragraph of any job description is perhaps the most important part – it is where you capture the attention of the applicant and hopefully make them want to read on and submit an application. This is very much a summary of the position. When defining the main duties and responsibilities within a role, make sure you are presenting the day-to-day duties, expectations and results, in a clear and concise manner. Consider: • •

What areas of the business will the applicant/employee be responsible for? What will the applicant/employee do on a day-to-day basis?

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Use bullet points and list all aspects of the role, not just the desirable tasks; also include the more mundane, although it is always a clever idea to mix these up to keep the role interesting. As a rule, the first and last bullet points are the ones you really want to be noticed, so the more mundane tasks can be inserted in the middle. Consider your applicants: junior or apprentice posts will need very specific descriptions of the day-to-day tasks. For more senior managerial or technical positions, also include what key performance indicators you want to measure. In my experience, employers often don’t consider what experience and/ or qualifications they are looking for in their new recruit. You must decide this from the offset and make it very clear in the job description. How much previous experience do you require them to have, and why? What qualifications do they need to have in order to do the job? You should also bear in mind that you may have to demonstrate the necessity of any experience or qualifications you specify, otherwise you may fall foul of age discrimination legislation. For example, if you specify 3 years’ experience in a particular role, you are excluding applicants under a certain age. Think about why you think the role requires this level of experience. Equally, you may see a role as requiring somebody who is willing to train and take qualifications to go further in your company; however, you should not specify ‘recent graduate’ or ‘school leaver’ as this would be discriminatory. You want team members who have a flexible attitude and approach to the workplace, employees who will embrace change. In the early days, your business will experience lots of change as you grow and develop into your vision. See Appendix 3 for a job description template.

Who you need The person specification Needless to say recruitment is all about finding the right person for the job. So, do you know exactly what you are looking for in that person? A person specification is crucial, as it describes exactly that. Employers will use the person specification to define exactly what they are looking for. It is important to consider your requirements in all areas, including qualifications, professional experience, skills and knowledge, and perhaps most importantly, personal qualities – you want to ensure that any new recruit will fit in with your existing team. Be realistic in what you are looking for. Carefully consider what your absolute minimum requirements are for the role. What skills would purely be an added bonus? You don’t want to rule people out before they’ve even

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applied based on a lack of skills that are not essential for them to do a good job, or a lack of skills that you can easily teach them if they were to be successful. After all, you’ll be hoping that all applicants demonstrate a desire to further develop their skills. Make a list of: • skills: what’s essential; and what’s desirable. • qualifications: what’s essential; and what’s desirable. • behaviours: what’s essential; and what’s desirable.

     

Be clear about who you are looking for What type of person are you looking for? What type and level of experience do you want them to have? What skills and behaviours do you want them to have? See Appendix 4 for a person specification template.

References Collins, J. (undated) First Who, Then What. Concepts: A list of Jim Collin’s core concepts that you can find throughout his books. Available at: https://www. jimcollins.com/concepts/first-who-then-what.html (accessed 15 January 2021). Gallup (undated) What Is Employee Engagement and How Do You Improve It? Available at: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/285674/improve-employeeengagement-workplace.aspx (accessed 3 January 2021).

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Step 5: Recruitment and Induction

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‘At the end of the day, you bet on people not strategies.’ (Lawrence Bossidy, General Electric, cited in Tichy and Charan, 1995)

Now you have clarity on who you need to bring into your business the next challenge is where will you find them? Where do you advertise? Any advert that you post will essentially be the first impression that the applicant has of your business, and you need this to be positive in order to ensure that you are not creating barriers for potential applicants. You must ensure that the advert contains sufficient and accurate information relating to the role by following the guidelines for the job description and person specification (see Chapter 4, this volume), and ensure that the advert is visually appealing by following some simple processes. Once the advert is complete, proof read it and get someone else to read it too – they’ll be able to tell you if it’s appealing or if it doesn’t hold their attention. It goes without saying that you need to ensure your adverts are consistent in terms of their format and branding so that applicants become familiar with your business as you recruit over the years. You should therefore have developed a corporate template which incorporates the company logo, colours, typeface and so on. You can do this in-house on a decent word processor, or have it designed professionally by an agency. Once you have a look you are happy with, all you need is the content! Where do you advertise? Professional journals? What social media will they interact with? What online sites will they use? What agencies could you use? There are a number of forums in which you can advertise your vacancy, but the key is finding the ones that work best for you and have a better chance of reaching the applicants that you are trying to attract. There are many ways to advertise free of charge, and it is always essential to advertise your vacancies internally to existing staff and to advertise on your own website. Contact any previous applicants that have given you their permission to keep their details on file. © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.0005

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Some membership websites offer a forum to advertise vacancies online too – make full use of this service and get the most out of your membership! When paying to advertise your vacancy, be mindful of your budget – you want to ensure that you will be getting the right applicants through. Keep a record of the applicants that come through from each area, and the relevance of each application, so that you can monitor if these means are cost-effective for future recruitment campaigns.

About your company Come up with a headline to attract attention to your advert. The job title itself is surprisingly important, and you should think carefully about what you call the job. Studies have shown that the job title is more important than salary to potential applicants! (Ezard, 2000). The top of the advert should contain the job title and the location of the vacancy. This is your opportunity to really sell your business to prospective applicants. Focus on the successes your business has had, and your vision for the future. Highlight what makes you unique and potentially attractive to applicants. How do you differentiate yourself from your competition? Really sell your business! Describe the details of the job so potential applicants know what they would be applying for. Communicate your unique selling point. What is it that makes this job better, or different from other similar jobs, to attract to potential applicants? Take a look at your competitors’ adverts – what stands out? What can you say to make yours stand out more?

What are you offering? What is the package? This is not just about money. What will the successful applicant experience during their time with you? What are you like to work for? What is your company’s culture and what are your values? Job seekers are interviewing you! They will research your business, and they will ask people who know you what you are like. How will you stand out from similar types of businesses so that the applicant chooses you? Always indicate the salary range and other benefits on offer. Where salaries are competitive, additional benefits can make or break an applicant’s decision. Include as much information as possible, but don’t promise anything that you are unable to deliver. If you want to wait and see who applies before committing to a salary level, then you need to ensure that an appropriate message about the benefits package is given. For example, the salary is highly competitive and will depend on experience and qualifications.

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How do you want applicants to apply? Consider how you want the individual to apply, whether it’s a standard application form (which is great for the comparison of a large number of applicants) or a CV (which is good for more senior jobs as it gives the applicant a better chance to express themselves). Provide your phone number so that prospective applicants can contact you to discuss the detail of the job if necessary. It is also good practice to put a closing date in your advert, with realistic timescales for responding. Job adverts don’t just reach potential applicants. A job advert is a message to your competitors and the wider business community that you’re hiring, so always bear this in mind when constructing the advert. See Appendix 5 for an advert template and Appendix 6 for an example of a template application form.

Interview and selection ‘Hiring people is an art, not a science, and CVs can’t tell you if someone will fit into your company’s culture.’ (Howard Shultz, founder of Starbucks, cited in Parker, 2019)

When you are inundated with applications, you need a way of screening out the best candidates to interview, to see who is the best fit on paper – that’s when you need a standardized screening process. In order to set up interviews and select the right person for the job, you need to get a few things organized. So, you have placed your advert and have received a number of CVs and application forms. Have a transparent process for deciding whom to put through to interview and objective reasons for not putting through the rest. Applicants can challenge you if they believe you have been discriminatory in any way, even at this stage of the recruitment process. Screening applications After your agreed closing date, gather up your CVs and/or application forms. Design an applicant screening matrix to record that you have considered each applicant’s form, looking for the same criteria. Make a list of the qualifications, skills and experience that you mentioned in your job advert so you can tick off what each applicant has or does not have. Depending on the position, you may also have some essential criteria to include from your person specification list. Go through each application and tick off from your list what qualifications, skills and experience they have mentioned. Have they provided the

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information you asked for in their covering letter? I would disregard any application where the applicant hasn’t bothered to take the time to introduce him or herself, or explain what would make them a great candidate for the job. If attention to detail is important to the job, how has their CV and application form been presented? Are there spelling errors or inconsistencies? See Appendix 7 for an example of an applicant screening form. Selecting applicants to interview You have screened your applications, so each applicant will now have a score. The applicants you put forward for interview should be the best fit, on paper; now you need to meet them and find out if they are the right fit for your culture. There may be times when an applicant doesn’t score highly enough to warrant an interview on your matrix, but there is something about their application that has grabbed your attention, and you think they’re worth meeting. Don’t ignore your gut feeling. Invite them for an interview anyway. Remember, you are looking for someone to become part of your team, and you want to see what he or she is really like. Plan an interview that will help you see the candidates at their very best. Preparing for interviews What is your plan for the interviews? How are you going to discover if the applicants whose CVs suggested they were a good match, actually are? Decide which type of interview would be best suited to achieve this: • • • • •

telephone interviews; face-to-face interviews; video/Skype interviews; panel interviews (presentations); or work trials/placement.

Telephone interviews Set up a mutually convenient time, advise the candidate how much time you expect to take and ask them to take the call somewhere they won’t be interrupted. Prepare the candidate to answer a mixture of competency-based questions and behavioural questions by phone. This is great if you are interviewing for a receptionist or a call-centre position where telephone manner is very important. Have a checklist ready to ensure you cover everything. Face-to-face interviews Hold the interviews on site if you can; it always helps if the candidates can see where they will be working. Find a quiet space where you won’t be

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interrupted. Make the candidate feel as relaxed as possible and keep the conversation informal. Generally, I offer them a cup of tea, and I will talk initially about the business and the team. This gives them a chance to relax and calm down. I will then ask them to tell me about themselves and what brought them here today. Once everyone is more comfortable I will start on the more thought-provoking and experiential questions, as well as questions that will take more consideration. It is useful to help prepare the candidate for the interview. Write to them with at least 1 week’s notice and explain how the interview will run, what you expect from them and what will happen afterwards. Advise them that they will be asked a mixture of competency-based questions and behavioural questions – these will help you to see how they handle and react in different situations. Ask them to consider a time when they were in a situation; what was it like, how did they behave, what did they do, what did they learn? By talking about something they have experienced, you will get a sense of their emotional response and relate that to how they might deal with similar situations in the future. For example: Traditional question: ‘Have you had experience training new supervisors?’ Improved question: ‘Tell me about a time when you had to hire and train a new supervisor. How did you go about it? Would you do anything differently?’

There should ideally be two of you in on the interview with one person to record answers and notes, since this helps with the decision-making process and reduces bias. Video interviews Modern technology means you can interview people anywhere. This is ideal if your candidate doesn’t live locally and will save on interview expenses. I would use it as an initial getting to know you meeting, and you can use your telephone interview checklist. If they are suitable, then arrange a faceto-face meeting, perhaps alongside a work trial, or spending a day at your office. Panel interviews These are often used as a second interview and may include a presentation. These are generally for more senior positions within a business. Give plenty of notice and guidelines if you are asking them to prepare a presentation and advise them who they will be presenting to. Work trials These are a must if you want to see how candidates fit in with your team. Have them spend a day interacting with the team. Ask other team members to get to know the candidates and assess their use of initiative. This can be quite time-­consuming so I’d perhaps use this when you have whittled down your numbers to two or three applicants. Use an evaluation form and give this to

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whoever will be supervising your candidates on the day. You could also give a form to anyone else who will interact with your candidates so you are getting a wide range of feedback. I use a ‘First Impressions’ form to gather opinions. Remember, whatever you decide to do, ensure that the candidate is fully aware of the process and the timescales, and anyone else involved in the process is kept informed. How you manage your recruitment and selection process says a lot about you as a business. A poorly managed recruitment campaign will put off candidates and will work against you, especially if applicants have a few job offers to choose from. Put some time aside at the beginning of the process to plan how you are going to interview and select. Standardize your interview questions Plan your interview process with consideration. See Appendix 8 for an example of an interview questionnaire. See Appendix 9 for an example of a telephone interview questionnaire. You should always keep any interview notes in a secure manner, as unsuccessful candidates do have the right to request any paperwork relating to their application; the notes should be part of your defence against any claim of discrimination. When taking notes, you should always bear in mind that they will be kept. One HR person was horrified to discover that the only note written down by the interviewer after seeing a candidate was ‘single mother’. What type of interviews will you hold? Write down some notes about what you need to do to get the best out of ­candidates.

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Making the right decision ‘Many managers make poor staffing decisions. By all accounts their batting average is no better than 0.333. At most, one-third of such decisions turn out right; one-third minimally effective; and one-third outright failures. In no other area of management would we put up with such miserable performance.’ (Peter Drucker, management icon!, 1985)

How are you going to make your decision on who is the right person for the role? Consider your evidence Hold a meeting with the people involved in the interviews and/or the managers the successful applicant will work for. Review all your evidence: • CV; • application form; • interview form and/or notes; • work trial feedback; and • references. Your decision must be based on the evidence. If someone doesn’t feel right after all this time and effort, find evidence to back up your feeling. Feelings won’t stand up in court if you are challenged on your procedure. If you are not sure about any of your finalists – start again! Do not take on someone unless you are 100% positive they are right for your business. References Most references aren’t worth the paper they are written on. Be aware that if you do get a poor reference, it might be sour grapes because the person left, or there may have been a personality clash. If you get a similar response from other referees, then you should take them into account when making your decision. Ask for a reference from the two most recent employers and a character reference. You may have to make the job offer subject to satisfactory references if the applicant doesn’t want you to contact their current employer beforehand. See Appendix 10 for a template of a reference request form.

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How to put together a compelling offer Two to three months are likely to have passed since you first made the decision to hire someone. You have gone through the processes and you are at the final hurdle – the offer. Remember, while you are putting your candidates through a rigorous selection procedure, they will also be putting you and your business through the same thorough procedure. They must consider whether they really want to work with you or not after all they have witnessed. Start your offer letter by expressing how excited you are to be making this offer. Outline the benefits and salary and make sure that your offer reflects the experience and the qualifications of the individual, and also meets their expectations. What benefits do you offer? Pension? Healthcare? Discounts? Childcare vouchers? Extra holidays? What do your competitors offer? If you can, offer more than they do, such as better shift patterns, opening hours, support network, etc. Include details of your induction plan so that the applicant is aware of how much thought you have put into their employment, and how much support you are going to provide to ensure they settle in quickly. Finally, it is paramount to make them feel welcome and get them excited enough to accept your offer. Dealing with rejection If you are unlucky enough to have your amazing, compelling offer rejected, what are you going to do? Get some feedback on why the candidate said no and revisit each part of the process to see if you could have done anything differently, or improve it for next time. Would any of the other candidates that you took through the whole process be contenders? It’s important not to reject the other candidates until you have had an acceptance from your chosen candidate. If none of the other candidates are suitable, it’s back to the drawing board!

Choose the right candidate How do you choose the right candidate? What evidence will you have gathered?

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Respond to all interviewees What will you offer to your preferred candidate? Write down what’s in your package – salary, holidays, healthcare, pension, etc. How exciting is your offering?

The best start ‘Cultivate human capital carefully with thoughtful approaches to wellness, open communication and ties to the larger community.’ (Kambouris, 2019)

There are lots of things you need to consider prior to a new employee starting to work with you and there are some things you must have in place by law. You need to: • Check if they are legally allowed to work with you. • Check if you require a criminal record check, or a check if they are working with children. • Register with the Tax office within 4 weeks of the date on which they start work. • Issue a payslip. • Be aware of any pension regulations. • Be aware of the minimum wage. • Understand your health and safety obligations. • Be aware of their rights to leave for maternity/paternity/sickness/career breaks/holidays. • Issue them with a written statement of employment particulars within the first 2 months of their employment. The statement of employment particulars must include: • the business’s name; • the employee’s name, job title or a description of work and start date; • if a previous job counts towards a period of continuous employment, the date the period started;

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• • • •

how much and how often an employee will get paid; hours of work, and if the employee has to work Sundays, nights or overtime; holiday entitlement (and if that includes public holidays); where an employee will be working and whether they might have to relocate; and • if an employee works in different places, where these will be and what the employer’s address is. You should also include information about: • how long a temporary job is expected to last; • the end date of a fixed-term contract; • notice periods; • collective agreements; • pensions; • who to go to with a grievance; • how to complain about how a grievance is handled; and • how to complain about a disciplinary or dismissal decision. Up-to-date employment legislation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/ browse/employing-people (accessed 6 January 2021). Health and Safety updates are available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/ simple-health-safety/index.htm (accessed 6 January 2021). For when it goes wrong information is available at: https://www.acas. org.uk/ (accessed 6 January 2021). Most importantly you need to have: • a compelling vision for the future of your business that gets your new person excited; • a mission statement so your new team member knows how we as a team are going to achieve this vision for the business; • a set of values that you and your team live by; and • the right culture to foster employee engagement, customer engagement and stakeholder engagement. Induction Plan a thorough induction programme. It can take new employees on average up to 28 weeks to become fully productive. The more you help them out in the early stage of their employment with you, the quicker they will grasp how you work and start to deliver the results you desire. Mentor Identify a mentor – someone who understands the new person’s job role and can help them integrate into the team (that might be you if it’s your first employee; make time for them!).

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Performance management Start managing performance from day 1. Through the interview process, what areas did you identify that your candidate may need some support or further training with? As part of your induction process, set out your expectations and go through the job description with them. Agree on goals for the next year (make sure both of you think these are the right things to do – if your new person is given the freedom to come up with what they think they need to do, they are far more likely to succeed), and break them down into monthly sections. Diarize a monthly one-on-one meeting to go through their progress, provide support and give positive feedback, as well as pointing out areas for further improvement.

Preparation for induction Start with a list of everything your new employee needs to know from day 1. There will be a lot to learn, so you need to prioritize what’s urgent and what can wait until later. Be realistic about the time you need to get through all of this. Do not expect them to jump in and be part of the team immediately. Throwing people in at the deep end and seeing if they sink or swim is not useful to anyone. Think of your new person as a precious seed: •

You know your seed has the ability to grow into something amazing if the right conditions are provided. • Give your seed a good quality soil in an appropriate-sized container. • Add in some plant food (it’s optional – but you know if it is added in you could get more growth, and faster). • Place in an area that is sheltered from the elements, but has plenty of sunlight. Check progress every day and regularly top up with fresh water. • As the seed becomes a seedling, protect from flies and other organisms that might cause harm, and continue nurturing and feeding. • As the seedling grows and flourishes, ensure that you transfer to a bigger pot when required, so there is always plenty of room for growth and advancement. • In time you will have a strong, beautiful plant that becomes part of your garden. If you didn’t put the time and effort into your seed, what would happen? It might grow – a little bit. It won’t be as strong or as big as it should be, so it won’t contribute to the look and feel of your garden in the same way as your nurtured and cared-for seed. Sometimes, despite the best care and nurturing, a seed fails to grow as you had hoped. This is why it may be appropriate to include a probationary

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period in your contract of employment. This is usually for a 3- or 6-month period, when you can give a new employee 1 week’s notice if things don’t work out. Remember though, you and your business are also on a probationary period with your new employee! What do they need to know? Design a checklist for your new employee so they see what they are expected to learn. Once it is completed, copy it and keep it with their training records. Who do you involve? Who should you involve in the induction phase? There are several elements to the induction and it can be very timeconsuming for one person. For maximum effectiveness, involve as many people as possible; assign a mentor to oversee the process and to ensure the checklist gets completed. Have staff with the expertise in each area share their knowledge and use your external stakeholders (customers and suppliers) to give support in what they need from your new employee. The more of your team your new employee can spend time with, the quicker they will build relationships and settle in to the work environment. At the earlier stage of your company’s development you are unlikely to have many employees to help in the induction process, let alone an HR department! In this case, stagger your induction process so it doesn’t feel too intense for your new employee, and you can spread the commitment of your precious time. Scheduling time for induction It is important that you do schedule time for this process, and not be tempted to cancel or put it off until you realize that your new employee has been with you for 6 months and it’s too late. Week 1 Once they know where everything is, who everyone is and what’s expected of them, have them shadow someone who is doing the same job as they will be expected to do. Even if they come to you with years of experience, you want them to do things your way, from day 1. Week 4 It’s time for a formal review of how the first month has gone. Get prepared! Look over the objectives that were agreed, make sure their checklist has

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been completed and review some of their work. Get feedback from their mentor and other stakeholders; ask them for one thing that’s gone really well and one thing that could be improved on. Get people used to giving and receiving feedback in this way – it encourages a developmental culture. Give lots of positive feedback and encouragement: (i) discuss with them whether their objectives are still relevant; (ii) agree on some for the next month; and (iii) set the date for your next one-on-one meeting. Show your new person that you really care about their involvement in the business and their personal development. Take action … Design a standard induction for your new employees consisting of everything a new person needs to know in order to start working with you. You can add things to it to tailor it specifically to the different roles you recruit for in the future, but have a basic template to get you started. See Appendix 11 for an example induction checklist. Plan a thorough induction Give your new team member the best start. Make a list of what you need to share with your new employee.

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References Drucker, P. (1985) How to make people decisions. Harvard Business Review, July. Available at: https://hbr.org/1985/07/how-to-make-people-decisions (accessed 6 January 2021). Ezard, J. (2000) Seven out of 10 office staff prefer grander job title to pay rise. The Guardian, Work & careers, 18 April. Available at: https://www.theguardian. com/money/2000/apr/18/workandcareers.pay#_=_ (accessed 6 January 2021). Kambouris, A. (2019) Investing in Your People is Investing in the Future of Your Business. Entrepreneur, 11 February. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur. com/article/326062 (accessed 15 January 2021). Parker, L (2019) 9 Effective Ways to Assess Candidates’ Soft Skills. Glassdoor for Employers, 27 May. Available at: https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/ assess-candidates-soft-skills/ (accessed 6 January 2021). Tichy, N.M. and Charan, R. (1995) The CEO as coach: an interview with AlliedSignal’s Lawrence A. Bossidy. Harvard Business Review March–April. Available at: https:// hbr.org/1995/03/the-ceo-as-coach-an-interview-with-alliedsignals-lawrencea-bossidy (accessed 6 January 2021).

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‘Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.’ (Steve Jobs, cited in Hom, undated)

Performance management should form an integral part of daily working life. We should all be always looking to do what we do better, faster and more efficiently.

Day 1 plan for development During the induction process, draw up a personal development plan or PDP. This outlines the goals you want your new employee to achieve over a period of time, with three to five goals normally being sufficient. These should be SMART goals; SMART is an acronym for: • • • • •

Specific – Be really specific about what you are going to do! Measurable – How will you know when you have achieved it? Achievable – Can you actually do this yourself, do you have the skills? Realistic – Is it feasible, does it fit in with your work/life aspirations? Time bound – When are you going to do it by? Set a date for completion.

For example: • • • • •

S = I am going to design a PDP template today. M = I will know I have achieved this when I have a usable template. A = It is achievable as I have done them before; I will design a specific template for the managers to use so we have a standardized process. R = It is realistic as we have agreed as a business that this is an important part of the performance management process. T = I can do this today.

Get into the habit of setting your goals using SMART as you are much more likely to complete things. Challenge your colleagues to make commitments and get used to being asked yourself, ‘When will you do that?’ when you say you are going to do something. © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.0006

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Put together a folder and keep notes from any meetings you have. If possible, get the employee you have just reviewed to sign the notes at the end of the meeting to say they agree with what was discussed. Revisit the PDP at each review meeting and in between times if things come up. The PDP should show progress in development and could be used as evidence for performance-related bonus schemes. When performance is not going so well, you will have evidence to show that you have identified issues and you have been supporting your employee throughout.

One-on-one reviews Every month you should carry out a one-on-one review with every team member. The meetings are designed to provide a formal opportunity to check in with your team members. The meetings can be as long, or as short, as they need to be – they just need to happen. If time is short, grab 5 minutes over a coffee. If you put them off, you are sending the message that they are not important and ultimately you don’t care about them! The agenda for the meetings generally should be: • • • • •

update on personal issues (How are things with you?); review of last meeting (What have you achieved this month?); give feedback on positives and any areas for improvement; complete a review form and sign off; and agree a date for your next meeting.

Clear enough time in your schedule before each review to look over previous reviews and consider what has come up for them over the last month. Be prepared! Make them informal and friendly. You want to get the best out of people – you do that by building rapport and trust. Have them take responsibility for any actions you agree upon, and to commit to when they will do things by – remember SMART! Giving feedback is important; your team needs to know when they have done a good job. Equally, you need to tell them when they have not and ensure they are aware of their areas for development. This can be challenging; most of us don’t like confrontation. In my experience, the quicker you deal with concerns, the better. If you allow poor performance to go unchecked, you are sending the message that it is okay to be substandard. Other team members will notice and get frustrated. If this continues, it will become your culture, and you will ruin all the hard work you have put in place. The important thing to remember about feedback is to focus on the behaviours and actions; refrain from putting the blame onto the employee. When you tell someone that they are bad at something, they have nothing to work on; however, when you tell them what they are doing is bad, they can choose to stop doing that.

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There are many ways to give feedback. My favourite is the AID Feedback Model. AID is an acronym for: • • •

Action – What is it they are doing well and/or not so well? Impact – What is the effect these actions are having? Desired outcome – How can it be done more effectively? (i.e. What do you want them to do instead?)

For example, Sarah is your receptionist. She is bubbly and friendly, and people often comment on how helpful she is. For a few months now she has been really sloppy with time keeping: she is consistently late. She is supposed to start work at 9 a.m., frequently arrives at 9.10/9.15 a.m. and last week, arrived at 9.30 a.m. twice! • • •

A = ‘You are consistently late, you are supposed to start work at 9 a.m., you frequently arrive at 9.10/9.15 and last week you arrived at 9.30 on two occasions!’ I = ‘There is no one at the desk to take calls and greet visitors. Your colleagues are having to put off their work to cover the reception desk. If you choose to continue arriving late, you may lose your job.’ D = ‘Aim to arrive at 8.45 a.m., so you are ready at your desk in time for the doors opening at 9 a.m.’

Six-month appraisal This is a good time to do the first formal appraisal and the meeting should last 1–2 hours. Give your team member a form to complete in advance of the meeting. Why are appraisal meetings important? Appraisals assist your team with performing their jobs to the best of their abilities, maximizing job satisfaction and their contribution to the overall objectives for the business. It provides you with the opportunity to focus on an individual’s performance towards achieving your values and goals. During the meeting you can follow up on progress with past reviews and identify any training and development needs they have. It provides a structure to review competence in a formal way, and to provide feedback on individual performance. Preparing for appraisal meetings A week or so prior to the meeting, provide an appraisal form to be completed in advance. The completed form should be returned to you in advance of the

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meeting. Agree on a time and place to hold the meeting and set aside a couple of hours to go out for lunch. Look over past reviews and read over the latest form, then think about what you would like to cover during the meeting. During the meeting This is your employee’s appraisal and they should be doing most of the talking. Enable your employee to open up and discuss things. Remember, this meeting is all about the employee. You have two ears and one mouth and you should listen and speak in the same ratio! Discuss what the employee has written, and discuss their skills review. Agree on the areas in which they need to receive further training. Agree on goals for the next year (SMART) and update their PDP. You should both feel comfortable that what has been discussed and agreed upon is realistic and achievable. Sign the paperwork and finish with setting a date for the next one-on-one review. After the meeting Do what you say you will do and make sure the paperwork is completed promptly, if you haven’t already completed it during the meeting. Failing to follow through after an appraisal is a huge disincentive for employees, as it becomes little more than a box-ticking exercise. In one organization I have come across, members of staff have been known to simply photocopy last year’s appraisal form, as nothing has changed in the intervening 12 months. See Appendix 12 for an example appraisal form and Appendix 13 for an example performance development plan.

Engagement surveys My hope is that once you have put everything you have learned from this book in place, this becomes less important. If you have an existing team, and you want to change the culture within your business, this is a great place to start. If you don’t have an open culture where your team feels they can approach you, you won’t know how your team is feeling and you won’t be able to fix things! There are many ways of getting feedback from your teams – you can simply ask them, have an open forum and discuss the issues. These work well in small teams – providing the leadership team is prepared for some tough feedback about themselves. They don’t work so well if the team doesn’t feel able to express themselves honestly – this is a problem in itself.

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You could use an external company to carry out the survey on your behalf. They will also analyse the results and give you feedback and suggestions on what to do to improve your culture and the engagement of your employees. You could also design your own online survey using free software such as from ‘Survey Monkey’ available at: http://www.surveymonkey.com (accessed 2 January 2021) or ‘Wufoo’ available at: http://www.wufoo.com (accessed 2 January 2021). Both are easy to use and they can be anonymous, so the team will hopefully be completely honest. You will then have to do your own analysis. The most important thing to remember after you have carried out your survey is to give the team feedback on the results and take action to fix the problems. Take action … Show your team that you care about them and their contribution to the business. Start managing the performance of your team now. Start with the one-on-one reviews right away, and keep records! Manage their performance Keep your employees engaged and motivated. Write down the process you will follow for this, when you will carry out reviews, how often, and what they will include.

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Performance improvement plan (PIP) There may be a time when you observe that an employee isn’t performing as well as you would expect. This could be for a variety of reasons; it’s important that you take the time to understand what might be affecting their performance. • • •

Is this caused by an external factor such as bereavement or other family issue? Is it possible your employee is struggling with low mental health? Is the employee worried about something like finances?

Often simply talking with an employee about what is going on in their life can have a positive impact on performance. Ask, listen and have a conversation. Unfortunately, sometimes the solution isn’t straightforward. This is when a structured process, the performance improvement plan (PIP), is invaluable. Simply put, a PIP is a document that describes the way in which your employee’s performance is falling short of what you expect, and what they need to do to improve their performance. The first step is to prepare a PIP for your employee. Set out the specific area(s) where the employee needs to improve their performance. Remember these should be SMART. You should then arrange a meeting with your employee. Explain what they need to do to improve their performance and how they can do this and discuss what you can do to support this, such as providing training. Explain what their responsibilities are, and what your responsibilities are. Set out a reasonable timetable for your employee to improve their performance, and agree interim review dates. You should also explain what the consequences are if the desired improvements aren’t achieved. Both you and your employee should sign the plan, and each of you should keep a copy. Regularly check in with your employee during the period of the plan. This allows you to monitor performance and discuss their progress. Make sure you meet at the review dates set out in the PIP. Before each meeting, you should both take time to reflect and assess their performance. After these meetings, update the plan to make sure it stays current. Document what still needs to improve, and any further support you can offer.

Employee engagement Have you ever worked for a great leader: somebody who is both encouraging and challenges you at the same time?

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I worked for an amazing leader a few years ago. Six months into the job, I was facing my first appraisal. Like most people, I was nervous before going in to what turned out to be a productive meeting. Towards the end, he said to me, ‘I don’t know how you are going to do it, but I want to be in The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Small Companies to Work For.’ The challenge excited me, but when I did my research and found out what it was going to take, well let’s just say that I had serious doubts about how feasible it was. How did our employees see the practice? We had a fractured business based over 14 sites, and their only support was through me. How could we ever get the three-star ‘Extraordinary’ rating we needed to even be considered for the list? This wasn’t a matter of changing a few known things. I had to start from scratch and figure out what aspects of working for the practice were making our employees unhappy. Then I would have to come up with solutions that not only addressed these issues, but in such a way that our employees would tell others that we were the best to work for. I don’t mind admitting there were times this felt like an impossible task. In my experience, if you’re willing to tackle a project head on and believe in your employees, anything is possible. The first step was to design a Happiness Survey. From the survey, I learned two things: • Most of our employees were not happy with their managers, and how they were being treated. • Communication across the entire company was poor. People felt disconnected and unappreciated for their hard work. Now that I understood the roots of what was making our employees unhappy at work, I could come up with solutions to help position us to be on that coveted list. Over the next 6 months, I implemented activities that would improve both key areas. I started with a weekly newsletter. We collected news from around the sites. I got people to send me interesting stories, shared people’s birthdays and anniversaries, and highlighted different people. The newsletter took the form of an e-bulletin, and it became quite popular. To connect people more, I organized a practice-wide conference where all of our employees came together for an entire weekend. There was training and a special awards dinner, which focused on recognizing everything our employees had achieved. I also realized that training for our managers needed a lot of focus. They were all excellent at their job, but management training had been ignored. I designed a leadership programme for each practice manager. Every 2 months we brought the managers together, providing leadership and management training. This training was backed up with support and mentorship, helping them to apply that training when back on site.

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Guess what? When I followed up with a second Happiness Survey, 6 months later, the results were improved so much that I felt we were ready to go for that top 100 list. That first year, we made #48 and we have been on that list every year since. What’s it like to work in your business? Are you fed up with your employees being negative? Do you understand how your people honestly feel about their work? Do you have a challenge with staff retention? Does your organization need structural clarity and a stronger reason for being? When your employees are engaged, they feel connected to each other and to the aims of your business. They believe in a shared purpose and understand the part they play in fulfilling it. An engaged team is more motivated and productive as people take pride in what they are doing and have faith in those around them. This leads to better working relationships, greater collaboration and ultimately a more successful business. As a business owner, you can support your team to become happier and more productive. You can discover opportunities for improvement and gain the knowledge and tools you need to make those improvements reality. You can create an environment that will help you to attract top talent. The first step is to design an employee survey. It can be a daunting thought to come up with suitable questions, and can be even more daunting to face up to the honest opinions of your employees. The Gallup organization has come up with 12 core elements that link to key business outcomes (Gallup, 2020), and have designed 12 questions that best predict employee and workgroup performance, paraphrased as follows: 1.  Do you know what is expected of you at work? 2.  Do you have the materials and equipment to do your work right? 3.  At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? 4.  In the last 7 days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work? 5.  Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person? 6.  Is there someone at work who encourages your development? 7.  At work, do your opinions seem to count? 8.  Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important? 9.  Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work? 10.  Do you have a best friend at work? 11.  In the last 6 months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress? 12.  In the last year, have you had opportunities to learn and grow?

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You can either simply use these questions verbatim, or use them as inspiration for questions more tailored to your practice. The next challenge is to take the results and translate these into positive changes to the business. A word of warning! If you ask your employees to take the time to complete a survey, it is essential to follow through. Fail to plan and plan to fail! Before launching the survey, make sure you have a strategy in place. • How are you going to analyse the results? • What can you do within the restrictions of the business to address the areas of concern raised in the survey? • How are you going to communicate any changes back to your employees? • What timescale are you going to allow yourself? If you haven’t laid out a plan prior to launching the survey, you are in danger of creating an even less engaged and motivated workforce. I would recommend revisiting the survey on a regular basis. In this way you can measure the effectiveness of any initiatives you have launched, as well as keeping on top of any new issues.

References Gallup (2020) The Power of Gallup’s Q12 Employee Engagement Survey. Available at: https://www.gallup.com/access/323333/q12-employee-engagement-survey.aspx (accessed 7 January 2021). Hom, E.J. (undated) Steve Jobs Biography. Business News Daily. Available at: https:// www.businessnewsdaily.com/4195-business-profile-steve-jobs.html (accessed 7 January 2021).

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‘The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel, and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.’ (Anthony Robbins, 2018)

I’m writing this in the midst of a global pandemic. During this time of lockdown and uncertainty, mental health issues have impacted each of us in different ways. What isn’t clear is what the longer term implications for ourselves and our team are likely to be. It seems to me, however, that anxiety and high levels of stress will undoubtedly be one of the legacies of the pandemic. There are numerous online and written resources available to help employers improve the health and wellbeing of their workforce. One of the most comprehensive sources of information I have come across is the j:ALT toolkit (just: Ask, Listen, Talk) prepared by Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service. The toolkit can be found at: https://www.opportunitiesfife.org/ media/1395/mental-health-toolkit.pdf (accessed 10 January 2021). This toolkit has provided much of the basis of what is contained in this chapter. The first point to make is that we all have mental health. While not all of us will experience a mental illness, at some time or another we will in all likelihood struggle without mental wellbeing. This simple fact is important for employers. The Mental Health Foundation states that 70 million work days are lost each year due to mental health problems in the UK. They estimate that this costs employers approximately £2.4 billion each year (Mental Health Foundation, 2021). You can read more at: https://www.mentalhealth. org.uk/our-work/mental-health-workplace (accessed 10 January 2021). The j:ALT toolkit argues that having a mentally healthy workplace is the most effective way to improve absence rates due to mental health issues. It can also help to make sure your employees are performing at their best and are happy working for your business.

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Mental health challenges faced by vets During your career in the veterinary profession, you will undoubtedly have encountered occasions where either you or colleagues have faced mental health challenges. According to Vetlife (undated) ‘veterinary surgeons in the UK are three to four times more likely than the general population to die by suicide (Platt et al., 2010)’. The reasons for this are numerous: (i) long hours; (ii) lack of support; (iii) intellectual, emotional and physical demands; (iv) compassion fatigue; (v) a business model focused on clinical rather than employee needs; (vi) isolation; (vii) pressure to maintain and improve professional knowledge; and (viii) a tendency to be self-critical. You can find out more about the specific mental health challenges faced by the veterinary profession at: https:// www.vetlife.org.uk/mental-health/depression/ (accessed 10 January 2021). As a society we are reluctant to talk about times when we struggle with poor mental health. This reticence to talk about how we’re feeling and to ask for help has a huge impact on the workplace. People will often prefer to resign than admit to having mental health issues. They will give other reasons for taking time off work, and sometimes will simply not come back to work at all. The j:ALT toolkit mentions a recent National Health Service (NHS) investigation which shows that at least one-third of sickness absences lasting longer than 5 days are due to mental health issues, while other studies show that at least 12% of all absences are due to mental health issues (Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service, 2019).

Absence management The toolkit suggests that an absence management policy can provide a framework to help support employees. This should include procedures for notifying the employer about absence and how to manage people while they’re off sick. As the toolkit says, leaving things as they are and hoping for the best isn’t going to work. However difficult it is to discuss mental health challenges, it is possible to have a workplace culture where you can ask, listen and talk about mental health. There should also be an expectation that you are going to keep in touch with your employees when they’re off sick. As well as showing your employees that you value and support them, it can help them get back to work quicker. There may be times when an employee needs time off due to family or personal issues such as bereavement, illness or separation. If they feel unsupported and under pressure to get back to work, their response to these

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challenges could tip into worsening mental health. This in turn can lead to a longer period of absence. If you get in touch and let your employee know you want to support them, this can help them to talk about their experiences and work with you to devise a strategy for getting them back to work. Bear in mind that if an employee is off for a physical ailment such as an infection or accident, they can usually give you an estimated return date. When they’re off due to mental health issues it is often difficult to say when they’re likely to come back. Everybody’s circumstances are different when recovering from poor mental health and their absence could range from short term to permanent. There is no right or wrong road to recovery, and not everyone feels able to ask for medical help, or indeed will need it. You can help your employee think about what support they might need simply by having that conversation with them. An important aspect of opening up a dialogue with your employee is an assurance of confidentiality. Reassure your employees that all conversations are confidential and won’t become a source of gossip in the practice. You can discuss with your employee ways in which you can help them return to work. This might include: • •

a face-to-face discussion about the issues and working together to come up with solutions; and changes to hours or duties, or flexibility to make changes as needed.

It might be that your employee needs a longer period off work. You should discuss with them how best to keep in touch on a regular basis, whether by phone, e-mail or in person. The j:ALT toolkit highlights that changes in a person’s mental health can lead to changes in how they would normally think or act. This might affect their mood, sleep, appetite and ability to function. They may experience feelings of vulnerability, worthlessness, anger, isolation and guilt. Bear these potential changes in mind when you’re communicating with your employee. Regular contact helps you assess how they’re doing as well as finding out how their treatment or support is going. You will also be more able to gauge the right time to move the conversation on to ways to get them back to work.

Might your workplace contribute to poor mental health? It’s also important to think about ways in which your workplace could be contributing to an employee’s poor mental health. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) considers stress to be a health and safety issue in the workplace. Some work practices can lead to unnecessary work-related stress and these can be subject to a legal requirement to take action. You can read

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more about how the working environment can have a direct impact on your reputation and bottom line in the case study in Appendix 14. In short, everybody who works in your business should have mutual respect at the centre of how they interact with each other. How can you determine if workplace stress is leading to mental health issues with your workforce? At what point does healthy stress become unhealthy? The j:ALT toolkit recommends using a stress questionnaire covering the key factors relating to a mentally healthy workplace (Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service, 2019). This can help an employee pinpoint the stress factors in the workplace that may lead to work-related stress. By recognizing stress as a health and safety risk, you can reduce workrelated absence and get people who are off due to work-related stress back to work sooner.

Employee’s return to work While you may have discussed what you can do to help support an employee’s return to work, there is no doubt that their first day back will be daunting. You can help ease their return by: • •

ensuring any adjustments that have been agreed are in place; arranging a meeting on the first day to welcome them back, letting you assess how they’re feeling and discuss what supports are available; and • arranging additional meetings over a period of time to talk about how they’re coping and any changes needed to their support. The j:ALT toolkit discusses tools you can use to ease your employee’s return to work (Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service, 2019). These include: •

Wellness Action Plan – Set headings show what keeps the person well at work through flexible working and/or reasonable adjustments. • Stress or Return to Work Questionnaire – These are completed by employees and focus on workplace stress factors rather than personal or family matters that have resulted in poor mental health. The websites of the following organizations provide a lot of useful information: • HSE – Available at: www.hse.gov.uk/stress (accessed 10 January 2021); • BUPA – Available at: www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/workplacemental-health/supporting-employees-mental-health/managing-time-off (accessed 10 January 2021); • Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) – Available at: www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1900 (accessed 10 January 2021);

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•

Mind – Available at:www.mind.org.uk/workplace/ (accessed 10 January 2021); • See Me – www.seemescotland.org/workplace (accessed 10 January 2021); and • Mental Health Awareness Week hosted by the Mental Health Foundation – www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week (accessed 10 January 2021). Mates in Mind is a leading UK charity enabling organizations to provide a positive mental health environment for their employees and educating individuals to better support themselves and others. Their contact details are as follows: Phone: 020 3510 5018 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.matesinmind.org (accessed 10 January 2021)

Talking about mental health As has already been touched on, sometimes poor mental health can be as a direct result of the workplace. While understanding the particular challenges faced by people working in the veterinary profession, as an employer there is a lot you can do to help employees who are struggling. A large part of this is by changing the way you and your employees think about mental health and being comfortable having conversations about their mental health. The j:ALT toolkit describes this as a mentally healthy workplace (Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service, 2019). Despite suicide being the leading cause of death among young people aged 20–34 years old, most people are still unwilling to ask for help or even discuss how they’re feeling. Getting to know your employees means you’re more likely to notice the signs of poor mental health. It also helps your staff feel more comfortable speaking to you about their mental health when they need to. Presenteeism is a term used to describe people who continue to work when they are unwell and is often associated with people who experience mental health issues. Given the hours we spend at work, you and your employees are perfectly placed to pick up on changes in behaviour in colleagues which may be a result of challenges with their mental health. Signs of poor mental health What are some of the signs to look out for? A recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) study (2016) has highlighted some of

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these signs and the impact they can have on your business. They found that of people with mental health difficulties: • • • • •

37% were more likely to get into conflict with colleagues; 57% find it harder to juggle multiple tasks; 80% find it difficult to concentrate; 62% take longer to do tasks; and 50% are potentially less patient with customers/clients.

Noticing the signs of poor mental health is essential for you, your employees and the success of your practice. Regular catch ups If you have regular one-to-one catch ups with your employees, it’s easier to discuss any changes in their behaviour you may have noticed. Remember j:ALT – just: Ask, Listen and Talk. If you don’t normally have these regular meetings, you should still address any issues as you become aware of them. You can minimize any stress for you or your employee by asking for an informal chat. Don’t arrange this chat days in advance, and make sure the chat is private. If this isn’t possible in the workplace, you could arrange to meet for a coffee outside of work. It can be useful to think through how you would like this chat to go. Jot down a few questions and think about what you would like to achieve. Remember to ask open questions which invite your employee to talk about how they’re feeling. Acknowledge that what you’re noticing is not how they would normally act at work. An example might be: ‘I can usually set my watch by when you get to work.’ It’s important you take on board what they have to say and let them know that you want to help. It may take a while to create the atmosphere where your employee feels able to talk, so make sure you offer the space and time for that to happen. You may hit a brick wall in this initial chat, so make sure you let them know they can come to talk to you at any time. You can also check back on them in a few days. Once your employee does start to open up, let them talk without interruption. Only once you have truly listened to them can you then have a conversation about the next steps. Work with them to work out these next steps. Is work contributing to how they’re feeling? Are there small changes at work that could help? Are there other ways to help them stay at work? The websites quoted earlier in this chapter can offer ideas about the changes you can make in the workplace, either in the way they work, their work environment or how they are managed and relationships with work colleagues.

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The needs of your employee and your business will guide the changes you decide to put in place.

External support There may be times when an employee’s poor mental health is such that you need external support and help. The government scheme Access to Work provides funding to help people with health challenges, including mental health issues, to stay in work. They can also provide a support plan. This service is available for people who are currently in work or those who are keen to get back to work. You can find out more about the support Access to Work provides from the website available at: https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work/what-youll-get (accessed 10 January 2021).

Making health and wellbeing central Of course, there are ways to help ensure that your employees are less likely to take time off work or underperform when they are facing mental health issues. An important element of developing a mentally healthy workplace is to plan ways of making health, safety and wellbeing central to your business. The j:ALT toolkit describes this as a ‘workplace wellbeing programme’ (Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service, 2019). You can involve your employees in designing this programme. You can include things like health checks for employees and information campaigns about the support services that are available. Campaigns could include subjects such as healthy eating, stopping smoking or alcohol awareness (particularly during the festive season!). Good mental health is central to any such programme. See Me has a free e-learning course on workplace stigma surrounding mental health problems available at: https://www.seemescotland.org/workplace/resources-and-e-learning/ (accessed 10 January 2021). Making awareness about mental health and discussions about challenges a natural part of your practice will pay dividends in terms of employee engagement and employee absence. Some of the ways you can foster this change in culture includes involvement in Mental Health Awareness Week and using the resources provided by the sites quoted earlier. Implement regular one-to-one meetings, where discussions go beyond work issues and can touch on other issues your employee is facing in a natural way.

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Think about how you want your business to impact on the lives of your employees. The j:ALT toolkit talks about the direct impact work can have on people, both good and bad. It states that up to 33% of jobs not only don’t pay a living wage, but increase employees’ risk of illness, injury and poor mental health (Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service, 2019). As well as poor pay, this could be through unsafe work practices, zero hour contracts, a culture of bullying or not feeling valued at work. A workplace that has a positive impact on its employees offers decent wages, a relaxed and supportive work environment and boosts self-respect. You can help your employees thrive in your business by well-designed and implemented policies and procedures relating to health, safety and wellbeing. You will find great resources to help develop these at the CIPD website (www.cipd.co.uk, accessed 10 January 2021) and the ACAS website (www.acas.org.uk, accessed 10 January 2021). An HR professional can also provide invaluable help and support. How will you know if your practice is a mentally healthy workplace? It is possible to measure this through absence statistics, including reasons for absence, regular health surveys and stress audits. You will then have the data to focus on any areas that are of concern and also pick up on any changes. There are tools available to help, such as the HSE Talking Toolkit. Find out more at: www.hse.gov.uk/stress/assets/docs/stress-talking-toolkit. pdf (accessed 10 January 2021). The j:ALT toolkit quotes employees talking about what workplace support they have needed: ‘I need my employer to listen. Listening is the most important thing for me. If I know my employer is taking on board what I’m saying, I feel that they’ll know better how to support me.’ ‘I have generalized anxiety which is exacerbated by situations such as busy times at work and new experiences or training. I really rely on my management being aware of that during these times and supporting me through it. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to continue my work.’ (Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service, 2019)

As an employer, you are in the privileged position of being able to address these needs and thus improve the productivity of your practice as well as making it a more attractive place to work.

References Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2016) Mental health in the workplace. CIPD Employee Outlook Focus, July. Available at: https:// www.cipd.co.uk/Images/employee-outlook_2016-focus-on-mental-health-inthe-workplace_tcm18-10549.pdf (accessed 10 January 2021).

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Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, Supported Employment Service and Health & Work Support Service (2019) The j:ALT Toolkit. Available at: https://www.opportunitiesfife.org/media/1395/mental-health-toolkit.pdf (accessed 10 January 2021). Mental Health Foundation (2021) Mental Health in the Workplace. Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/mental-health-workplace (accessed 10 January 2021). Platt, B., Hawton, K., Simkin, S. and Mellanby, R.J. (2010) Systematic review of the prevalence of suicide in veterinary surgeons. Occupational Medicine 60(6), 436–446. Robbins, A. (2018) Tony’s Ultimate Health Guide. Available at: https://core. tonyrobbins.com/health-guide-2?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium= social&utm_campaign=Lead%20Magnet&utm_term=44224560&utm_ content=health-guide&fbclid=IwAR2W-Cfuug_Wi1G9FCSOJSk-VNBe5Ufots aJORSOvgHTxmq1AVZp2Lw5j7c (accessed 8 January 2021). Vetlife (undated) Stress, Anxiety & Depression. Available at: https://www.vetlife.org. uk/mental-health/depression/ (accessed 10 January 2021).

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Step 8: How to Build a Loyal Client Database and Marketing Your Practice

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There are a few of the reasons why client loyalty is important in the veterinary field. These include: •

Clients always have a choice. They will happily travel some distance to find a better experience for their pet. • A better experience makes everyone’s job easier. Customer satisfaction leads to happier, more accommodating patients. This can make it easier to deliver bad news, while mix-ups and errors are easier to understand. Overall, the practice benefits from a smooth client experience. • A client who is confident in the treatment your practice provides to their pet is going to talk about their experience. This leads to more word-of-mouth referrals, which means more patients and a higher profile.

Providing a better client experience Given the benefits of a loyal clientele, how can practices work to provide a better client experience? Ensure you and your team can empathize with your clients as well as your patients. Make sure they feel comfortable and respected. Keep waiting times to a minimum. While sometimes we have to react to an emergency, or there are strains on staff levels, always remember that for clients in the waiting room who are worried about their pets’ health, any delay can seem like forever. Make sure your reception staff are empowered to come out from behind their desk and keep clients updated, and are comfortable chatting to clients. Get social. Most of your clients will be using social media on a regular basis. Post regularly on social media, and encourage your clients to engage with your practice profile. Your posts can show your personal side, which can help you to get to know your clients and their pets better. Encourage your team to get involved on a personal level.

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You should bear in mind, however, that social media is a two-edged sword. You should think about whether: (i) you or your employees are breaching client confidentiality; and (ii) all your employees understand that they are expected to follow any equal opportunities, anti-bullying or diversity policies your practice has. Remember, if any employee of your business posts something that breaches client confidentiality, or contravenes equal opportunities legislation, you as their employer can be held liable. I would recommend having a social media policy, which explicitly lays out what is expected from employees who use social media. The policy applies even when somebody is using social media outside of work, and using their own device. Provide more information to your clients. Information and transparency can make any client interaction more pleasant. If a client feels like they aren’t being kept fully informed, they can become more distrustful. If they feel confused by what they’ve been told, they may leave feeling neglected, or worse still they may not follow recommendations properly. While clients may not understand the technical or biological complexities of their pets’ health, they are still invested in knowing what’s going on with their pets’ conditions. Make it personal. Look your clients in the eye when talking to them, listen to what they have to say, and make sure your team knows about the importance of these personal touches, which can make a positive difference to your clients. The most important thing for most clients is that they know you care about them and their pet.

How are you gaining new clients? When a new client registers, ask where they heard about your practice. It can be very illuminating to analyse how you are gaining new clients. The most typical referral sources can include: • • • •

existing clients/word of mouth; social media; advertising; and other professionals/networking.

That a typical practice can typically win over 50% of new clients through word of mouth should come as no surprise. What about networking? We all know the importance of attending veterinary events throughout the year. They are a chance to catch up on the latest innovations, to reconnect

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with ­colleagues, or maybe just to catch up on all the gossip. But what about business networking? Love it or hate it, networking is a useful tool in building up your profile and embedding your practice in the local business community. Networking can help you build long-term relationships. This doesn’t happen overnight. It’s unrealistic to think you can walk into a room, hand out your business card and then sit back and wait for clients to knock at your door. Trusted relationships take months to build. It’s a truism that people buy from people they like. This is equally, if not more, true with veterinary clients. Networking contacts are also far more likely to refer your practice to friends and colleagues if they know and trust you on a personal level. Networking can also be fun! From informal drinks to a day at the races or a dinner, it’s not all shop talk. Once you’re in the swing of things, you can help other people connect with each other too. This will definitely make you a popular person to connect with! Of course, there are some cons to take into account with business networking. It can prove expensive, especially if you have to pay membership fees. This is another reason to keep track of how new clients found out about your practice: so you can see if these costs are outweighed by the new business you win. Breakfast or evening meetings may not fit in with surgery times or indeed family life. You will have to find meetings that can work round your other commitments. Not everyone enjoys networking. If you’re introverted or shy, it can be a real slog. You could consider asking a more gregarious colleague to get involved, or you might find that if you persevere, it becomes easier as you get to know your fellow networkers. There are a lot of networking groups available. Test out some groups and find the ones that work for you. It’s better to regularly attend meetings of a few groups than join loads and then rarely turn up. In summary, a growing client database is built on relationships. Your team, your network, your online community are all going to help grow your business.

Marketing tips Apart from word-of-mouth referrals, how are people going to find out about your practice? There are many ways to reach potential clients, some of which I touch on below. Digital marketing This is the use of digital tactics and channels to connect with customers online. Given over 94% of the UK population are now online, this is obviously

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a key way to reach clients. From a website to digital advertising and e-mail marketing, there is a wide range of tactics covered by the term ‘digital marketing’. If you ask any digital marketer how to approach a digital marketing campaign, they will tell you to make sure you have a clear picture of how any campaign supports your goals. These goals will help you decide which digital channel is right for the campaign. A good starting point is often to create a series of blog posts that offer useful information to your prospective clients. These blogs can then be promoted through the practice’s social media accounts. It is possible to use search engine optimization (SEO) to optimize your website. This helps to make sure your website ranks higher in search engine results pages. Done well, this can increase the amount of organic (free) traffic to your website. It’s then essential that your website content is effective and attractive to pet owners. It should help improve brand awareness, lead generation and ultimately customers. There are a number of tools that a ‘content marketer’ has available, including blog posts, e-books and whitepapers, infographics and online brochures. I touched on social media marketing earlier. This form of marketing promotes your brand and your content on social media channels to increase awareness of your practice, drive traffic to your website and generate leads for the practice. There are a number of platforms you can use including: • Facebook; • Twitter; • LinkedIn; • Instagram; • Snapchat; • Pinterest; and • Google+. Pay-per-click (PPC) is a way of driving traffic to your website by paying a publisher every time your ad is clicked. The most common type of PPC is Google AdWords. This allows you to pay for top slots on Google’s search engine pages. The cost is based on the number of times your link is clicked. Affiliate marketing is where you receive commission for promoting someone else’s products or services on your website. Marketing channels include hosting video ads through the YouTube Partner Programme or posting affiliate links from your social media accounts. You can place ads on Facebook or other platforms such as Instagram. You can set parameters on who you want to target, perhaps by geographical area and age. You can also set a budget which can’t be exceeded.

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In the same way that you can automate aspects of your HR function, there are ways of automating your marketing. Some tasks which lend themselves to automation are: • • • •

e-mail newsletters; social media post scheduling; contact list updating; and campaign tracking and reporting.

E-mail marketing is an effective way of promoting content, discounts and events, as well as directing people to your website. The types of e-mails you might send include: (i) blog subscription newsletters; (ii) follow-up e-mails to website visitors who download something; (iii) customer welcome e-mails; and (iv) tips or similar series e-mails for existing customers. Online public relations (PR) is used to secure online coverage with digital publications, blogs and other websites. It’s much like traditional PR, but for online space. Effective methods of online PR are: • • •

communicating with reporters via social media; online reviews of your practice; and engaging comments on your website or blog.

You can use all of the digital marketing tactics discussed here to attract and engage customers. This is sometimes known as ‘inbound marketing’. You can focus on a different key performance indicator (KPI) for each digital marketing channel so you can measure the practice’s performance across each one. For example, you can measure SEO by the level of your website’s ‘organic traffic’, in other words the website visitors who found a web page via a Google search. Hopefully, this whirlwind tour of the latest digital marketing techniques has sparked some ideas of how you can use these tools to promote your practice, your vision and your values. Brand consistency Many brands are instantly recognizable from their logos – for example the apple shape with a single leaf (the famous Apple logo) and the swoosh, with the words ‘just do it’ (Nike). There are, of course, many more that if you’re given just a simple description means you know who they are. These logos are recognized worldwide. They are synonymous with the companies. But how do we know what vision, mission and values the logo represents? How do their customers self-identify? Brand consistency is key for any business. Every aspect of your business communications, from your appointment cards to your website and every other interaction with the outside world should be aligned to your business values and goals and the needs of your ideal clients.

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It’s worth taking some time (and money!) to focus on what you want your brand to be, and how you can ensure that this is portrayed consistently. A good start is to search for your competitors on Google and look at how they have branded their business. Once you have identified what your business stands for, a designer can work with you to develop this visually. The designer will provide all the visual elements and ‘rules’ that help ensure that over time clients will identify the visual elements of your communications with your complete brand. Once you have found your voice it is vital that internally all of your team understand what your brand represents, and deliver a service that is consistent with this. You can help make this happen by: • ensuring employee onboarding/induction incorporates your brand values; • providing branded items, for example uniforms, pads and pens or laptop cases, to help build brand loyalty internally; • encouraging your team to act as brand ambassadors both in person and on social media. Give them access to your brand guidelines along with training; • working with your team to recognize how the way each team member works adds to the business brand; and • ensuring that all your team buy in to the brand. Team buy-in is essential to grow your brand both consistently and authentically. There are some practical steps that are essential for brand consistency: • ensure the design elements of your brand are used correctly in any communication; • create a shared folder on your practice network or intranet to give relevant employees access to approved visual content and guidelines on how to use these; • create social media cover photos for your employees who are acting as brand ambassadors; • provide document templates and social sharing templates to help your team present a consistent brand look and feel; and • task one team member to place orders for print and promotional materials to make sure your logo is always used correctly. Brand consistency applies to content as well as visually. When you’re considering topics for a blog or a webinar, these should align with your brand’s mission and goals. You could blog about veterinary advances, for example. Or perhaps create blogs around particular issues at certain times of year (think ticks!). If you’re attending a veterinary event, or perhaps participating in a community event, let your online audience know. These events help build up your brand. You can use blogs and social media posts to promote what your practice is up to. Don’t forget to add your practice name or logo to any photos or videos you share.

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Your brand should have a personality. Whatever platform you’re using to communicate, make sure you keep a consistent tone. Depending on the platform, you may adjust the language you use (more casual on Facebook and more professional on LinkedIn, for example), but the tone should remain consistent, such as approachable or even quirky. Once you have established your brand, it’s time to think about who could be your ‘brand ambassadors’. Clearly your employees are key, but you should also think about others who might champion your brand. Take the time to build up relationships with who you would consider to be key opinion leaders. These could be local pet shop owners, dog walkers, dog breeders or animal charities. Bear in mind that these relationships will take time to build, and must be with people and organizations who share similar values to yours: people who can complement your brand. As with most relationships, this is reciprocal. You should feel comfortable recommending your brand ambassadors to your own clients. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) Corporate social responsibility or CSR is a phrase that you’ve probably heard recently, but what is this exactly and why is it in a chapter on marketing? CSR is a means that companies use to help ensure they conduct business in an ethical manner. In other words, that they take account of their social, economic and environmental impact as well as any impact on human rights. This can be achieved in a number of ways, including: • • • •

working in partnership with local communities; investing in a socially responsible manner; developing relationships with employees and customers; and implementing work practices that help protect the environment and are sustainable.

Employees, customers and government are increasingly demanding that companies are open about their business activities while working to acceptable ethical standards. CSR is now seen as an effective way to demonstrate the business’s core values. This in turn can increase competitive advantage as well as protecting and raising brand awareness and building trust with customers and employees. In other words, make sure you bang the drum about the ways your practice contributes positively to the wider community.

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Client events One way of increasing openness is to host regular client events. Before you start any promotional activity, such as holding an open day, you should make sure it works as part of your overall strategy for your practice. Make sure the work you put into organization of such an event is worth the effort. Open days don’t just happen. The more care you take with the planning, the more successful your day will be. Have a meeting with all your employees to ensure team participation. Work with your team and be systematic. This is a great opportunity to make this a great team event. Decide on the date and time, and make sure it doesn’t clash with other local events. Give yourself at least 3 months preparation time – the time will go by very quickly! Pick a suitable time for the event – weekends and evenings are good times for most people. Think about who you want to come along and when they are likely to be free. Involve your team by giving them real responsibility and incentives. Team spirit can be enhanced or wrecked when new projects are introduced. What type of event do you want to hold? A quick search on Google will provide loads of ideas for a practice open house. This will usually involve a behind-the-scenes tour with goodie bags. There might be talks and presentations covering animal health topics such as veterinary acupuncture, flea prevention, pet first aid or looking after exotic pets. What about a selection of the unusual items pets have swallowed? You could combine your open day with fundraising for a related charity. Some activities you could consider include: • • •

animal-related face painting; best sleeping pet pose; and pet talent competitions.

Really the only restriction is the limits of your team’s imagination. Most importantly, you have to give people a reason to come along. This is where some market research comes in handy. What are your local shops and businesses doing to attract customers? Anything from special offers, sales incentives and free gifts are fair game. It’s important you take into account what is likely to attract people. It may come as a surprise, but not everybody may be fascinated by an in-depth discussion of lung worm! Always think about how your efforts will look from the customer’s perspective. It’s important to think through the logistics. Do you have enough car parking spaces, or will you need to direct people to other nearby car parks? Plan the route your visitors will follow through the practice buildings and designate which areas visitors will have access to (including toilets). If you need to keep some of the practice running during the event, make

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sure that work can proceed without interruption. Don’t become overcrowded. How many people could you cope with? Overcrowding means people won’t get a positive experience. How are you going to make sure your team can record enquiries about the practice? Good promotion There is no point in holding an event unless clients or potential clients hear about it. Good promotion is all about letting people know in advance. These are a few of the ways you can make sure you get the message across. These are often people’s first contact with you. Does the publicity material say what you want it to say? Are you conveying the right image? It should say who you are, what, when and where the event is, and give a reason why the reader should attend (the five ‘W’ principle of good journalism). Advertise in suitable local venues, such as shops, libraries, community centres, public buildings and anywhere else local people may meet up.

posters and leaflets 

This may prove costly, so you can also write a press release and send it to the paper. Try and incorporate a ‘hook’ that will catch an editor’s or journalist’s attention. Don’t expect the event to be considered a big news event; it will only be considered if there is a good gimmick, such as a celebrity guest. Make it interesting and be positive – how this can benefit pets for example. Do your research and send the press release to the right person, with a personalized note or e-mail.

advertise in a local paper 

Always include an RSVP so you know whom to expect. Make sure you make their attendance part of your publicity.

invite celebrities and local vips 

Consider direct mail shots, including the five Ws: why, who, what, where and when. Bear in mind how little time people take looking at junk mail, so keep costs to a minimum while ensuring your flyer looks professional and eye-catching.

direct mail shots 

word of mouth, using your website and social media  Word of mouth is always good. Make sure you tell your existing customers and ask them to bring a friend. Make sure your website has all the details of the event. More importantly, splash it all over social media and ask your team to keep sharing. You’re selling yourself, your employees, your services and your practice. Think about your image; take trouble with the way you and your team dress.

Have fun and make sure your team does too Take photos. Lots of photos. These can be used for future promotions. They can also be shared across social media during and after the event.

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All in all, it’s a relatively small investment of your time and money and the rewards will be worth the effort. Maximize the impact of your event. Send another press release after the event. Tell them about your day and how successful it was. Pictures of competition winners will often be printed when other material isn’t used. This is a brilliant opportunity to increase brand awareness. Assessing success Depending on your event, you will want to assess its success. Did anyone become a new client, or book a treatment for their pet? For up to a couple of months after the event, have your receptionist ask new clients some questions when they come in: • • •

How did you hear about us? What did you think about the publicity material you received/event you attended? Why did you choose this veterinary practice?

This information is useful when planning your next event. Sharing with your team Everything that we have discussed in this chapter should be shared with your team. If you include them in planning marketing activities and share your business vision with them, they can become your greatest marketing tool.

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Step 9: Financial Management

9

‘There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.’ (Colin Powell, cited in Williams, 1989)

Managing finance in veterinary practice How many of you are aware of how your practice is performing from a business perspective? Oops I’ve said that dirty word – business! The fact is it is a business. We need to charge money for goods and services to pay your wages, repair or replace equipment, buy new equipment, maintain and run the building and vehicles. We need to buy stock so we can dispense medication as it is needed. Running a practice is expensive! I hear a lot of people complaining that they don’t get paid well – often it’s because there just isn’t the cash coming in, and the costs are too high. Learning about the practice finances can help you to see where you might be able to make a difference and help the business improve. Table 9.1 outlines the different financial aspects that need to be considered in terms of calculating the profit or loss made by a business, in this case a veterinary practice. It shows how for every £1 received from a client (i.e. earned as income by the practice) the profit or loss is calculated. So, for example, for £1 earned in sales, 25p of that is the cost of making that sale (drugs, laboratory tests, etc.) resulting in a gross profit of 75p (£1 – 25p). From the gross profit the cost of labour (staff costs) and overheads (rent, rates, utilities, etc.) need to be deducted before the net profit or loss can be calculated.

Do you regularly review your profit and loss (P&L)? Profit and loss or P&L statements are a snapshot in time of how your business is performing. You can look at this daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.0009

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Table 9.1.  Example of how for every £1 of income (from sales), costs can be apportioned for a veterinary business. Financial headings Sales This is also called income or revenue, it is the money you make from consultations, operations, food, toys and treats, etc. Cost of sales This is what it costs you to make a sale – so drugs/ consumables/lab tests, etc.

Income (sales) and expenditure (£)a Comments 1.00

0.25

One vet should bring in four to five times their salary. So, a vet earning £40,000 should bring in a minimum of £200,000. To increase sales train RVNs to upsell. Drugs, consumables, etc. cost 20–25% of the sale depending on the supplier these are purchased from and any discounts negotiated.

1.00 – 0.25 = 0.75 Gross profit/(loss) Sales – Cost of sales = what you have left to run the practice Labour Staff costs including tax, NI, pension contributions, etc. Overheads Rent, rates, utilities, training costs, travel, postage, professional fees, etc. Most day-to-day running costs are fixed for the year.

0.75

Typically gross profit should be 75–80% of the income from sales.

0.40

Staff costs should be no more than 35–40% of income as if they are any higher it will be difficult to make a profit. Typically 20–30% of income is spent on overheads. Some savings may be possible on items such as utilities and postage.

0.30

0.75 – 0.40 – 0.30 = 0.05 Net profit/(loss) or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Basically, this is what is left to invest in new equipment, new staff, etc.

0.05b

For the business to be sustainable the target profit should be in the region of 15% of income. This figure is dependent on how you spend your income and how the business is financed. Targets are often set for this figure and bonuses may depend on it.

NI, National Insurance; RVN, Registered veterinary nurse. For every £1 that is earned in sales (income), this is how it is spent. b In this example, the net profit is 5p yet according to the comment in column 3 the target is 15p profit in every £1 of income. Hence although this practice has made a profit it is well short of where it should be to be a sustainable business. To improve the profit, sales (income) should be increased (e.g. increase the client base) and/or costs reduced. a

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annually. Most standard accounting software packages will be able to run a P&L report for you. Most businesses look at their P&L monthly, so they can make changes month to month depending on the performance. I know some business owners who wait until the end of the year! Like many aspects of running a business, finance is an entity of its own and accountants train for up to 6 years. So although you are not expected to know everything, some of the useful parts of finance will help you understand more about the business side of veterinary practice. The P&L statement shown in Table 9.2 shows how the company has performed in its trading activities for the month of September and then over the year so far. The financial year generally runs from April to March the following year. It is also useful to compare what you actually do, to your budget. The variance is the difference between what you actually did and what you were budgeted to do. It is a quick way to see where you have over or under spent. The percentages I mentioned in Table 9.1 (in the ‘Comments’ column) are a guideline: use them to benchmark your practice P&L. Look at the example P&L statement in Table 9.2, if you were only to look at the performance that month – you would be quite worried – this veterinary practice brought in the sales they budgeted for, but overspent on labour, training, communications, IT, bank charges and sundries. There were some savings where they underspent. They were budgeted to have a profit of £3624 and ended up with £400! When you look at the year-to-date profit it is a lot closer to the budgeted profit. Look at each of these categories and come up with an explanation as to why they are what they are. For example, consider why the labour costs are so high: it may be this is because locums were hired, and/or there was a lot of overtime in September. Once you know where the real problems are, you can work to fix them. So, a P&L statement is useful to help: • •

•

•

control costs/expenditure: You can identify where costs/expenses have increased to take corrective action. manage cash flow: A business may be profitable but have poor cash flow and this can result in business failure – cash is king as they say. Pay close attention to cash flow to ensure there is enough income to pay the bills. Producing cash flow budgets assists with this. forecast trends: Analysis of accounts over a few years will enable you to identify any trends and this helps to see if the business is growing, standing still or is in decline. You can also plan likely future income expenditure and profits. monitor performance: P&Ls can be monitored monthly and annually to compare how you are performing from month to month or year to year. They can also be used to see how your performance compares with that of your competitors. Using this you can see where corrective action needs to be taken.

I know some of you will say, so what? What can we do about it if it’s not looking good? The information you take from your P&L should be a red

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Table 9.2.  Example of profit and loss (P&L) statement for September and year to date. Month 6: September

Year to date

Actual

Budget

Sales

23,426

23,400

26

5,974 26%

5,616 24%

358

Gross profit GP%

17,452 74%

17,784 76%

–332

Labour Labour as % of turnover Overheads Rent Rates Light & heat Training Motor & travel expenses Marketing Communications Professional fees Out of hours Repairs & maintenance Cleaning & waste IT costs

12,017 51%

9,360 40%

2,657

2,000 600 270 449 56 261 302 150 200 18 53 248

2,000 600 250 300 100 500 200 100 200 50 75 150

Cost of sales Cost of sales as % of turnover

Variance

– – 20 149 –44 –239 102 50 – –33 –22 98

Actual

Budget

Variance

140,559 – 35,845 26% – 104,714 74% – 65,083 46%

120,093

20,466

28,800 24%

7,045

91,293 76%

13,420

48,000 40%

17,083

12,000 3,600 1,621 1,850 336 1,566 1,810 900 1,200 105 316 1,488

12,000 3,600 1,200 1,800 600 3,000 1,200 900 1,200 300 450 900

– – 421 50 –264 –1,434 610 – – –195 –134 588

Chapter 9

Profit & Loss

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Bank charges Sundries Insurance Total overheads

202 150 77 5,035

100 100 75 4,800

102 50 2 235

EBITDA (profit)

400 2%

3,624 15%

– 3,224

1,213 398 460 28,863 – 10,768 8%

600 600 450 28,800

613 –202 10 63

14,493 12%

–14,493

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flag to show something is not right. You are either not bringing in enough income or you are spending too much. Look at where you might be able to make some cost savings, for example most pharmacies have far too much stock – that’s cash sitting on your shelves! Leave the cash in the bank a bit longer and just order what you need for a couple of days – all wholesalers deliver the next day. Increase your revenue, reduce your costs and you will have profits for reinvesting in the practice. Think about how you can bring more money in. What activities can the whole practice team be involved in? If you focus on getting more new clients, and getting them to come back more often then, your sales will increase. If your practice manager is not able to share the business’s financial information with you, ask for other key performance indicators (KPIs) that will give you something to achieve and so that you will know when the business is improving or not. For example, focus on monitoring the number of consultations and in-patient procedures you do every day/week, and aim to increase them every week, and the money will come. You can make this fun too: reward the team when you exceed the number of consultations you see.

Reference Williams, J. (1989) True Black Power – Colin Powell. The Washington Post, 15 January. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/ 1989/01/15/true-black-power-colin-powell/07061cff-ecc8-48e1-967e-7fc63 16020a9/ (accessed 11 January 2021).

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Step10: Three Key Strategies to Increase Your Revenue by 25%

10

‘Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.’ (James Cash Penney, founder of JC Penney, an American department store chain, cited in Mourdoukoutas, 2013)

This chapter discusses the strategies that will help you increase your business revenue by up to 25%. These are the same as the three KPIs (key performance indicators) that have made the top-performing veterinary practices very wealthy. First let’s consider the business equation: Revenue = Number of clients × Number of visits × ATV where ATV is the average transaction value, which is the amount of money spent per visit. In order to increase your revenue there are three drivers. You need to: • • •

increase the number of new clients; get clients to come back more often; and increase the amount of money clients spend with you.

Increase the number of new clients Consider what activities will bring in new clients. Most successful new client campaigns are ‘word-of-mouth referrals’. How can you incentivize your existing clients to tell their friends how great you are? Think of your business like a leaking bucket, to keep it full of water you need to continuously top it up. Clients will leave and so you have to find even more new clients to continue growing. Check your  customer  management system for reports  showing the number of new clients and monitor this on a weekly basis.

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Get your clients to come back more often What is a client worth to your business? How much on average do they spend a year? For example, if on average clients spend around £200–£300/ year, if they stay loyal and continue to buy from you for 10 years, that’s £2000–£3000 over the 10 years. Keeping clients engaged and active with your business is vital. Invest time in looking after your new clients with an example of your great customer service. What do you currently do to make sure your clients stay with you and keep coming back? Do you know how often they come back? What products and services can you offer that will encourage your clients to come back and buy from you? Do you have a customer loyalty programme? As for new clients, monitor this every week (as already mentioned), set targets for the number of new clients you want to aim for and celebrate when you succeed.

Increase the amount of money clients spend with you This KPI is often the one that will make the biggest difference to your revenue. The ATV has a direct correlation to the quality of work you do. Give every client the best service and offer them relevant products. Charge appropriately for the work you do and ensure you are consistent with all of your clients. The ATV is calculated by dividing your income over a period of time by the number of clients in that same period. This gives you the average amount spent per visit. Measure this on a weekly basis, set targets for the number of new clients you want to aim for and celebrate when you succeed. This is one KPI that most  businesses  struggle with. Other ways to improve ATV are to  reduce  discounting and  stop  non-charging. If you have a  loyalty programme,  encourage clients  who want discounts to join these. Any other discounting is subjective and may be construed as unfair. It often involves judgement of a client’s circumstances by their appearance. Make sure your employees know that giving goods and services without charging is stealing from the business, and this has a considerable impact on the overall profit. So keep an eye on missed charges and control discounting. These three KPIs are powerful tools that can help to ensure your practice flourishes and grows. Remember – you can’t achieve your business goals without profit!

Reference Mourdoukoutas, P. (2013) Ten Leadership Quotes from James Cash Penney. Forbes, 28 February. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/ 2013/02/28/ten-leadership-quotes-from-james-cash-penney/?sh=64e80cdc77ca (accessed 13 January 2021).

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Appendix 1

Organization Plan Managing Director Finance

HR

Operations

Marketing

IT

Strategic Management Day to day

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Appendix 2

Values Worksheet Choose five values that are important to you

Why are they important?

1

2

3

4

5

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Appendix 3

Job Description Template Job title: Location: Hours of work: Reports to: Job purpose

Specific duties and responsibilities

Qualifications and experience

The duties defined in this job description are not definitive and may be subject to future amendments following appropriate consultation.

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Appendix 4

Person Specification Template Essential (must have)

Desirable (nice to have, will train if not)

Skills

Experience

Behaviours

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Appendix 5

Advert Template Business name: Location: About your business (Why is yours a great place to work?) Describe your business:

What type of person are you looking for? Values: Skills: Qualifications: What are you offering? Annual leave: Bonuses: CPD: Advert For newspaper adverts pull together a summary from the above information. You will probably be restricted by a word limit.

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Appendix 6

Template Application Form Please complete the form in black ink and block capitals and return it to (name). Personal information Surname Forenames Title (Mr, Mrs, Miss, etc.) Previous names (if any) Current address

Daytime telephone number Do you have the right to take up employment in the UK? If no, please provide further details.

YES/NO

If you do not have the right to take employment in the UK, would you wish us to assist you in applying for the right to work?

YES/NO

Dates you are not available for interview  © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) 104 DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.000a Downloaded from https://cabidigitallibrary.org by Ivanov Ivan, on 11/04/24. Subject to the CABI Digital Library Terms & Conditions, available at https://cabidigitallibrary.org/terms-and-conditions

Template Application Form

105

Education and qualifications Please list from GCSE or equivalent to degree level in chronological order. Establishment

Qualifications gained

Please provide details of postgraduate education or study or any other professional qualifications. Establishment

Qualifications gained

Work experience Please give details of your last three jobs. Any relevant posts held before then may also be mentioned. Please begin with your present or most recent position and then work chronologically backwards. From To

Name and address of employer

Job title, description of duties and responsibilities, reason for leaving and salary on leaving

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Other information Do you have any other training, qualifications, skills or personal qualities relevant to the post (e.g. knowledge of a foreign language, computer literacy, full driving licence, etc.)?

Please give details of, and provide an explanation for, any time when you were not either working or in full-time education.

Have you made a previous application to the company? If so, when was this and what was the outcome?

Please give details of your main extra-curricular activities and interests.

Please use this space to say why you are interested in the post for which you have applied, why you believe you are the best person for the job and provide any other information that may assist your application.

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If you are successful, when could you take up your post? How many weeks’ or months’ notice do you have to give to your current employer?

If you are disabled, please give details of any special arrangements or adjustments you would require to attend interview.

What are your salary expectations?

Referees Please give details of two referees, one of whom must be your current or most recent employer, or, if this is an application for your first job, your school teacher or higher/ further education lecturer. Neither referee should be a relative or a contemporary. First referee

Second referee

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 In order to protect the public, the post you have applied for is exempt from certain provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. You are therefore required to disclose all and any past or pending cautions or convictions, whether spent or otherwise, unless it is either a protected caution or a protected conviction under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. All information provided will be kept in the strictest confidence and only used for the purpose of assessing your suitability for the post you have applied for. Please specify below details of all and any past or pending cautions or convictions, whether spent or otherwise, except for protected cautions or convictions. If you have no past or pending cautions or convictions, please specify “None”.

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Declaration I declare that the information I have given on this application form is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true and complete. I understand that if it is subsequently discovered that any statement is false or misleading, or that I have withheld relevant information, my application may be disqualified, or, if I have already been appointed, I may be dismissed. I hereby consent to the processing of the information supplied on this application form for the purposes of recruitment and selection. I accept that if my application is successful, this application form will form part of my personnel file, and in that case, I consent to the data on it being processed for all purposes in connection with my employment. Signed: .........................

Date: .........................

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Appendix 7

Applicant Screening Form Job: Date: Candidate name

Criteria (qualifications, skills and experience) Qualifications required Cheerful disposition Good organizational skills Good at listening Ability to remain calm under pressure Managing multiple priorities Good oral and written communication skills Industry/profession experience Customer care Sales experience Cash handling IT literate Total score Signed:

Date:

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Appendix 8

Suggested Interview Questionnaire Complete all sections of this form. The information you provide here will help provide constructive feedback to the candidate and will ensure you have not been discriminative. Name of applicant: Venue and date of interview:

Position applied for:

Copy of identification taken, and signed

Yes

Locum

Permanent

No Reason: Standard questions to ask at interview

What skills and qualities will you bring to our business?

Tell me about a time when you delivered quality service; what was that like for you?

110

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111

What responsibilities and achievements have you had to date?

How would you handle feedback from a client? Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult client.

Personality and fit

Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

Motiviation/enthusiasm Did the candidate show enthusiasm in working for the business? Comment:

Punctuality Did the candidate arrive on time for appointment (this could indicate their reliability)?

What are your strongest personal attributes?

Where do you see areas for personal growth and self-improvement?

Interaction: Can you tell me about a time when you considered yourself to be a good team player?

What interests do you have outside of work?

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What attracted you to this position?

Why are you leaving your current position?

Team members on duty at the time of interview and their feedback

Action to be taken by:

Offer … please confirm start date, salary and hours

Reject … please provide feedback in space below

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Appendix 9

Telephone Interview Questionnaire Suggested Telephone Interview Checklist

Date

Candidate details Applicant name

PAYE

Company

Contact details Mobile no.

Home no.

E-mail address Eligible to work in UK?

Visa/ expiry

Nationality What do you know about our company?

Little

Moderate Comprehensive

Type of work/availability Permanent Full time Notice period

Locum Part time

Availability Short term

Long term

Dates available Current role Location

Job title

Date from

Date to

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Experience How many years post-qualified experience do you have? Do you have any further qualifications?

YES

NO

If yes – details:

Team fit/character Tell me about a situation at work that didn’t go well for you; how did you deal with it?

Tell me about a time when you worked as part of a small team; what was that like?

What are your core values? (What is important to you?) Examples of values include: quality/responsibility/integrity/growth.

What five words would your colleagues/previous colleagues or friends use to describe you?

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Telephone Interview Questionnaire

115

Describe your strengths.

Tell me about a time where you had to manage change or new developments at work.

Continuing professional development (CPD) What CPD have you undertaken over the last 3 years?

Motivations What motivated you to apply for this position?

Have you applied or worked for us before?

What are your key strengths?

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Appendix 9

116

Have you applied for any other vacancies?

What areas would you like further training in?

Salary Current base salary CPD Accommodation Transport allowance Bonus Next stage Subject to your application being successful, please provide me with your availability for the next stage, which is a face-to-face interview. Day

Date

Time

Notes

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Appendix 10

Reference Request Form Employment Reference Applicant’s name: Job title while employed by you: Dates employed with you: Reason for leaving: Summary of job duties while employed by you:

Please also give your assessment as to the following: Competence in the job (quality and quantity of work □ Exceptional produced): □ Very good □ Good □ Above average □ Satisfactory □ Below average Application and attitude to the job and to the company: □ Exceptional □ Very good □ Good □ Above average □ Satisfactory □ Below average

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Ability to work without supervision:

Ability to manage workload and work under pressure:

Honesty and trustworthiness:

Timekeeping record:

Relations with other work colleagues:

Relations with clients, customers and suppliers:

□ Exceptional □ Very good □ Good □ Above average □ Satisfactory □ Below average □ Exceptional □ Very good □ Good □ Above average □ Satisfactory □ Below average □ Exceptional □ Very good □ Good □ Above average □ Satisfactory □ Below average □ Exceptional □ Very good □ Good □ Above average □ Satisfactory □ Below average □ Exceptional □ Very good □ Good □ Above average □ Satisfactory □ Below average □ Exceptional □ Very good □ Good □ Above average □ Satisfactory □ Below average

Does the applicant have a current disciplinary or YES / NO performance review record? If yes, please specify the level of warning given, relevant date and a summary of the offence committed/ performance issues:

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Reference Request Form

119

Were there any disciplinary or performance allegations YES / NO or issues outstanding that had not been investigated or brought before a formal disciplinary or performance management hearing before the termination of the applicant’s employment, or which only came to light after the applicant had left employment? If yes, please provide a summary of the alleged disciplinary or performance issues and provide any other relevant information: Any other comments: Would you re-employ this person? If no, why not?

YES / NO

Signed: Name: Position: Date:

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Appendix 11

Example Induction Checklist Induction Form Name:

Start date:

Date:

Initials:

Mentor assigned: New starter form returned (Do you have their details?) Contract signed? (This is a legal requirement.) Read Employee Handbook (The handbook holds any information relating to policies, procedures and any other information about working for your practice.) Health and Safety manual (show where it is kept, set timescales for reading through, highlight responsibilities and the policy) Medical Form returned (If you take on someone with past medical issues, they should state if and how these issues may affect their ability to do their job, and what you need to do to provide support.) P45 received Copy of driving licence received (if required) Copy of passport received (You need to know they have permission to work in the UK.) Work Permit received (if applicable) Uniform, name badge, keys, etc. Introduction to other team members  © W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) 120 DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.000a Downloaded from https://cabidigitallibrary.org by Ivanov Ivan, on 11/04/24. Subject to the CABI Digital Library Terms & Conditions, available at https://cabidigitallibrary.org/terms-and-conditions

Example Induction Checklist

121

Premises tour including team facilities, fire exits and first aider Introduction to the business vision, mission, values and culture Familiarized with Absence/Holiday Request Procedure Computer training Product, service and marketing training (What do they need to know about what you do?) Personal development plan (PDP) agreed One-on-one meetings booked into the diary Signed by: Employee:



Line manager:

Once completed, copy and keep with the employee’s training records.

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Appendix 12

Example Appraisal Form Name:

Date:

What has gone well with your performance?

What hasn’t gone well with regard to your performance?

What will you do differently to improve this?

How can we support you?

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Example Appraisal Form

123

What else would you like to discuss during your appraisal?

Manager’s comments:

Employee’s signature:

Manager’s signature:

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Actual date

Reviewer’s comments:

Review date:

What activities do I What are my need to undertake to development objectives? achieve my objectives?

Example Performance Development Plan

What support/resources do I need to achieve my Target objectives? date

Date for achieving objectives

Appendix 13

© W. Sneddon 2021. Ten Steps to Building a Successful Veterinary Practice (W. Sneddon) DOI: 10.1079/9781786394910.000a

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Appendix 14

Case Study: How Not to Treat Your People A recent employment tribunal has awarded an employee with diabetes £14,000 for disability discrimination. The details of the tribunal provide a case study in how not to treat employees with special requirements. The mere mention of employment tribunals can be enough to bring an employer out in a rash. While the finer points of employment law make an employment lawyer’s heart beat faster, it can strike fear into the heart of any employer. While this case study is certainly not about scaring the reader, it is an opportunity to demonstrate how important it is to take employment law into account when it comes to the people you employ. This means writing policies, communicating these effectively and following up with training. The details of the whole sorry story can be found in an article in People Management magazine (Brown, 2019). An employment judge heard evidence that the employee of a house builder spent 2 miserable months feeling ‘intimidated, under the spotlight and concerned for her job’. From the start of her employment, Holly Carr said she faced ‘excessive, invasive and heavy-handed’ questioning about her condition. At a lunch held to welcome her to the company, which was attended by her line manager, Goodwin and colleagues, Carr declined any alcohol because of her diabetes. She hadn’t disclosed her condition prior to this because it was ‘under control and not affecting her life’. After the lunch, Goodwin and a colleague, Impiazza, were involved in an e-mail conversation which included one message saying ‘… as long as she doesn’t go into hypoglycaemic shock any time soon!!!’ followed by a ‘shocked face’ emoji. Carr discovered the e-mail when Goodwin asked her to check e-mails on Goodwin’s phone. The court rejected claims that the e-mail was out of genuine concern and instead ruled that it was a joke at the expense of Carr.

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According to the article in People Management magazine (Brown, 2019): After becoming aware of Carr’s diabetes, Goodwin told Carr that she had to meet with HR because she failed to tell them she was diabetic during her interview. Another member of staff – Mrs Moorcroft – attended the meeting, and noted Goodwin asked Carr detailed questions about her medication and her strategies for keeping well. She was asked what time she took her medication, how regularly she tested her blood, and what she would do if she felt unwell. Carr also stated she kept a bottle of ‘emergency’ orange juice with her, and was asked to hand it over for Moorcroft to see. Employment Judge Jones ruled that ‘Goodwin’s questioning of [Carr] during this meeting was excessive, invasive and heavy handed.’ Moorcroft also stated she did not know much about the illness and was endeavouring to learn more. However, Jones added: ‘[Moorcroft] did not appreciate that this was not an opportunity for her to learn about diabetes but she treated it as such.’ On 14 July, Carr was taken around the office by Goodwin to find first aiders so that she could tell them about her condition. Employment Judge Jones found it highly likely that, during this tour of the office, Goodwin said to everyone she spoke to that she and Carr were looking for first aiders, and that ‘when she was asked why; she introduced them to the Claimant by saying “this is Holly, she’s a diabetic”.’ The judge added: ‘We find that this must have been highly embarrassing for the Claimant.’ In another incident on 6 September, Carr was part of a group, including Moorcroft, that went on a site visit. They stopped at a food van and ­Moorcroft asked Carr whether she wanted something to eat, to which Carr replied that she had everything she needed with her. Moorcroft also asked her whether she had checked her sugar levels. The tribunal heard this worried Carr as she thought that Moorcroft was ‘trying to catch her out’. She did not think she had given Moorcroft reason for concern. The court ruled this query was asked ‘not in the caring sense’ but to let the Claimant know the company was keeping an eye on her. The judge stated: ‘[Carr] thought that Moorcroft was trying to catch her out. It is likely that she felt intimidated, under the spotlight and concerned for her job.’ The court ruled the specific incident harassment. In a later incident, Carr – who managed a fleet of 280 vehicles – and Goodwin were late delivering a car to the company chairman’s house because Carr felt unwell due to low blood sugar. She was warned by Goodwin that if she told the chairman’s PA [personal assistant] this was the reason, she would be ‘sacked on the spot’. When the PA came to ask why they had not left yet, Goodwin gave another excuse. Goodwin denied the incident had happened but this was rejected.

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Throughout her time at the company, Carr’s competence was flagged several times. Following an incident on 14 September, which involved allegations that a car was not cleaned in time, Carr was invited to a meeting with Richard Kuyper, executive associate at the company. The tribunal heard Carr did not know the reason for the meeting. Carr was told in the meeting her employment was not going to work out given that she had been spoken to by Goodwin several times and the company had seen no improvement. Kuyper did not refer to specific allegations until Carr asked for further details, and the tribunal heard he appeared reluctant to go into detail of what had happened or what was wrong with Carr’s performance. In the meeting Carr was told her contract of employment would be terminated with immediate effect. The court conceded Carr’s performance ‘had not been perfect’, but ruled the allegations surrounding poor organization were not substantial enough to warrant dismissal. The judge ruled: ‘It is our judgment that the main reason for the Claimant’s dismissal was her disability. It is also this tribunal’s judgment that a person with a different disability, with the Claimant’s level of competence, (making the same level of mistakes that she did) would not have been dismissed. The Respondent would have monitored her performance, given her feedback and opportunities to improve and ultimately confirmed her appointment.’ A spokesperson for Weston Homes plc said the company was ‘extremely disappointed’ in the tribunal’s judgment, and ‘saddened that the matter reached a legal situation’, adding that the firm ‘totally rejects the allegations made by Mrs Carr and has contested them vigorously’. They continued: ‘It is Weston Homes’ position that Mrs Carr was simply not capable of carrying out the job she was employed to do, as recorded in her appraisals’, and added that the company is committed to providing a working environment where ‘everyone feels valued and respected’. (Brown, 2019)

The full judgment of this employment tribunal (case number 3201540/2017) is publicly available on a government website (Assets Publishing Service Gov UK, 2018). The work environment this particular employee experienced was miserable, where she felt bullied, intimidated and mocked. It seems more than likely that this toxic atmosphere impacted on her performance, and ultimately it impacted on the business’s bottom line. One of the most important lessons to be learned is the importance of not only having an equal opportunities policy, but training your managers in how this policy should be implemented. Any equal opportunities policy should detail the following: • an introduction which details all protected characteristics, which aspects of employment are covered, a description of the behaviour the

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business expects from its employees and the consequences of any breach of the policy; • definitions of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and victimization; • the responsibilities and obligations of employees; • an explanation of where the policy applies, especially concerning social media; • the responsibility of line managers; • what to do if experiencing discrimination, harassment or victimization; • how to make a formal complaint and details of the complaints procedure; • an explanation of how the business can accommodate any special requirements and what to do if an employee has any special requirements; and • how an employee can get further support. If you employ somebody who has some form of disability, in this case type 1 diabetes, it is important to find out if there are any special adjustments you should make as their employer. You should also ask your employee if they would like to discuss any potential medical concerns with your first aider, making sure the first aider is aware this discussion is confidential. The People Magazine article (Brown, 2019) quotes: Croner associate director Paul Holcroft, who said the case served as a ‘stark reminder’ that threats to dismiss an employee because of their disability are clearly an act of direct discrimination and harassment, especially as there is a clear link to their protected characteristic and another non-disabled employee will not be subjected to these threats. ‘Any disclosure of a disability, whether in an interview, in a medical ­questionnaire or at a later stage, needs to be treated appropriately by HR and the employee’s line manager,’ he said. ‘It is good practice to meet with the employee to discuss their disability, how this may affect them in the workplace and whether any reasonable ­adjustments are needed. Questions asked to the employee need to be ­sensitively phrased and avoid placing the employee under scrutiny or making them feel that they are being intrusively interrogated.’ (Brown, 2019)

Discretion and empathy are essential to ensure your employee isn’t embarrassed or feels they are being singled out in any way. A good way to approach any conversation is to start from a position where you recognize that the employee has already judged that they are capable of fulfilling the duties of the role. Your employee is the expert here, so be guided by what they say. Everybody who works in your business should have mutual respect at the centre of how they interact with each other. I suspect that if this principle had been embedded in this particular business’s practices, this situation and subsequent PR nightmare could have been avoided.

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References Assets Publishing Service Gov UK (2018) Mrs H Carr v Weston Holmes plc, Case Number: 3201540/2017. Reserved Judgment. Available at: https://assets. publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5cc315e4ed915d0567d2361c/Mrs_H_ Carr_-v-__Weston_Homes_Plc__-_Case_No.__3201540_2017__Reserved_ judgment.pdf (accessed 8 January 2021). Brown, L. (2019) Employee with diabetes ‘humiliated’ at work awarded £14k for disability discrimination. People Management, May. Available at: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news/articles/worker-diabeteshumiliated-employer-awarded-disability-discrimination?utm_source= mc&utm_medium=email&utm_content=pm_daily_01052019.5/1/2019.784326. Employee+with+diabetes+%E2%80%98humiliated%E2%80%99+at+work+ awarded+%C2%A314k+for+disability+discrimination&utm_campaign=&utm_ term=4069139 (accessed 7 January 2021).

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CABI – who we are and what we do This book is published by CABI, an international not-for-profit organisation that improves people’s lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. CABI is also a global publisher producing key scientific publications, including world renowned databases, as well as compendia, books, ebooks and full text electronic resources. We publish content in a wide range of subject areas including: agriculture and crop science / animal and veterinary sciences / ecology and conservation / environmental science / horticulture and plant sciences / human health, food science and nutrition / international development / leisure and tourism. The profits from CABI’s publishing activities enable us to work with farming communities around the world, supporting them as they battle with poor soil, invasive species and pests and diseases, to improve their livelihoods and help provide food for an ever growing population. CABI is an international intergovernmental organisation, and we gratefully acknowledge the core financial support from our member countries (and lead agencies) including: Ministry of Agriculture People’s Republic of China

Discover more To read more about CABI’s work, please visit: www.cabi.org Browse our books at: www.cabi.org/bookshop, or explore our online products at: www.cabi.org/publishing-products Interested in writing for CABI? Find our author guidelines here: www.cabi.org/publishing-products/information-for-authors/

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